Assassin's What?
by Sass-Bot
Summary: What does Aphrodite not have in her dorm room? When Stevie Rae sneaks into Aphrodite's dorm, she finds out the Hag from Hell isn't as bad as she seems and both girls get the surprise of their lives. -Marked x Assassin's Creed 2 (ON HIATUS)
1. Haggier than the Hag

**_Omigah! A crossover! Hide! Okay, no. But I hope my brain allows me to finish this 'cause I like it! Assassin's Creed 2 x House of Night! Who woulda thought it!_**

**_It takes place in Marked -just thought you should know!_**

**_Rated T for Aphrodite's tongue!_**

_

* * *

_

"Hey, y'all!" Stevie Rae chimed cheerfully as she and her best buddy for life, Zoey Redbird, walked to their usual table in the House of Night cafeteria. It was bustling in the cafeteria today since some new fledgling was just marked and rumor has it, she challenged the _Hag from Hell_, Aphrodite, on her first day. Z's group completely supported the girl, in spite of the fact that they didn't know her.

The girls took their seats just as the Twins, Erin and Shaunee, were clinking their milk glasses.

"Kate Moore," Shaunee began.

" –we salute you!" Erin continued and they Twins proceeded to exchange praises for Kate, the new girl, and insults for the Hag.

Damien shook his head at them and pulled something out of his pocket. He then handed it to Zoey. She gave him a puzzled look. "My notes from Vamp Sociology class." he explained.

"Ah, right, I totally forgot." she muttered as she took the notes. "If you hadn't reminded me, I probably wouldn't have asked at all. Thanks a bunch!"

Damien laughed, "It's fine, Z. You don't need to thank me for anything!" Stevie Rae laughed with them. Then the Twins joined in and they eventually forgot what they were laughing about in the first place.

Suddenly, a familiar and icy voice immobilized everyone from the poison dripping with every syllable.

"What're _you_ laughing about, dweebs?"

They all simultaneously turned their heads to the voice. If you haven't guessed already, it was none other than Aphrodite Lafont. The first to speak were the Twins.

"Oh, it's the demonic ice queen." Erin said.

"What?" Shaunee added. "Did you rise up from Hell just to talk to _us_? How becoming!" The dark skinned girl inwardly cheered for herself after using some of Damien's vocabulary.

"Uh, guys?" Stevie Rae interrupted with her known twang, "I think class is starting."

Aphrodite glared at her for no apparent reason but to glare and left the group alone, waving her hips sassily as she walked away.

Damien was next to check his watch and the others followed suit. It was indeed time for classes to start. The cafeteria got louder because the chattering was mixed with the shuffling of feet. Stevie Rae headed towards her first class: Equestrian Studies with Professor Lenobia. She dreaded it since Aphrodite's goons, Warlike and Terrible, were in it with her but it lifted her spirits to know that that super cool teacher, Professor Lenobia, taught it.

The day went by uneventfully and Stevie Rae retreated to her dorm bored. To make matters worse, her roommate had to go to that Dark Daughters thing later so she would be bored with Zoey gone.

* * *

As she was walking alone in the halls, an argument aroused Stevie Rae's ears.

"Oh, shut up! You just got here! You don't know shit about this school like I do!"

"That may be true but I know everyone hates you!"

"Oh yeah? And how does that affect _me_?"

"Someone's gonna knock you off that throne of yours soon. It's probably not gonna be me but I'll be right there laughing my ass off while it happens!"

"Fuck you! Why are you even bothering me in the first place?"

"'Cause I came here and found _you_ in my bitch radar!"

Stevie Rae stopped in her tracks and winced at the… colorful use of words. It was obvious that it was between Aphrodite and the new girl –who Stevie Rae saw for the first time and she had long brown hair that curled at the bottom and fierce brown eyes. The argument was getting pretty heated and, fearing the worst, she stepped in between the girls that were grimacing so angrily that it looked like they were baring sharp animal teeth. "Okay!" she shouted, interrupting Aphrodite in the middle of her sentence. "Listen! Y'all gotta stop fighting! Kate, Aphrodite may be a pain in the butt but she hasn't done _anything _to you! And Aphrodite, nobody's throwin' ya off your hellish hag horse so calm down!"

"And when did it become _your_ business, Texas?" Kate mocked Stevie Rae whose face would have twisted in fury if she hadn't willed it to stay calm. Sure, it doubtless had nothing to do with her but it was getting on every one of her nerves.

"I just think this whole fight is ridiculous!" she replied, mustering up the strength she got from her Mama as she spoke.

"She's right." Aphrodite agreed making Stevie Rae shortly rejoice. "You stand no chance!" Stevie Rae groaned in disappointment. Did she _not_ get what Stevie Rae was trying to do here? The Southern girl wanted to kick Aphrodite in the face for that.

"What did you say?" Kate exclaimed and the fight looked like it was going to resume. _Dammit_. Those girls just wouldn't stop.

"No! Stop!" Stevie Rae exclaimed. "This isn't getting you anywhere! Aphrodite, you have to go to that Dark Daughters meeting and Kate, you should get to wherever the hell you need to go!" When she was done with her sentence, she was pretty proud of how powerful she sounded when deep inside she was about to leave them to finish off what they started.

Kate seemingly didn't like being scolded and immediately began to bite back at the poor girl. "Who says I'll listen to you? You're probably one of Aphrodite's tiny henchmen! I'll bet you're as big a b –"

"Shut up!" Aphrodite exclaimed –now as frustrated as the other blonde –saving Stevie Rae from Kate's wrath. "Can't you _stop arguing_ for like _ten seconds_?"

It looked like that phrase shut the new girl who was (and Stevie Rae didn't want to think it) more haggish than the Queen of Hags, Aphrodite herself. Kate harrumphed and walked away but not before she stuck up both of her middle fingers –one for Stevie Rae and one for Aphrodite.

"Aw! Isn't that considerate of her?" Aphrodite commented at the gesture sarcastically. Then she turned to the short, curly haired blonde. "You didn't have to come and interrupt. I was handling things perfectly fine on my own."

"If you call 'Almost getting into a catfight' handling things then you were doing a dandy job of that, Aphrodite." Stevie Rae was hurt at her lack of gratitude. If she hadn't stepped in, who knows how long the fight would've dragged on?

"Keep your cowboy lingo to yourself, dork." Aphrodite muttered before heading off to the Dark Daughters meeting. Stevie Rae cringed at Aphrodite's rudeness but now that Stevie Rae was alone in the corridor again, she resumed her solitary stroll to her room.

* * *

Stevie Rae didn't know how long it was until Zoey returned but she knew that her BFF would likely come back pissed at Aphrodite and the whole thing. Oddly, Z came back laughing so hard that it seemed like she was miming.

"Z? Are you alright?" Stevie Rae asked, "You look like you enjoyed the meeting a little too much."

Zoey nodded, still laughing soundlessly and clutching her stomach in pain from all the laughter. Soon the sound of her laughter came back and eventually, she calmed down. "It was hilarious! That new girl, Kate, totally humiliated the Hag in front of everyone!"

Stevie Rae frowned, "That's not nice." _Kate was in the Dark Daughters? Well, what else would one expect from her…_

"No, it's damn funny!" Zoey broke into a brand new fit of laughter and collapsed onto her bed.

Her roommate closed the door and sat on her own bed. "Zoey, I don't like this Kate girl," she said, debating whether to reveal her encounter with the two hateful fledglings or not. Finally, she decided she should since Z was her best friend and she should tell her everything. "I met Kate today." Zoey looked up from her fit and calmly urged her to continue. "She was real mean, Zoey. Like –meaner-than-Aphrodite mean."

"But she's on our side –"

"No, she just wants to be the school's new Queen Bee!"

Zoey mused for a second before nodding. "Well, if you say so."

"We should help Aphrodite with her." Stevie Rae said, glad that her best friend believed her when she expected her to scoff sarcastically. She should have more faith in Z.

* * *

"No!" Erin exclaimed.

"Absolutely not!" Shaunee added.

Damien shrugged. "Well, I personally feel no need to help Aphrodite. It's her problem, let her handle it."

"But she's pissin' me off too!" Stevie Rae exclaimed.

"Since when do _you_ get pissed off? You're a big ball of happiness!" Erin teased; making her twin giggle and Stevie Rae hit her lightly on the shoulder. Even Stevie Rae had a bad side –even if she was usually too nice to show it.

"Hmm. Maybe we should help." Zoey said. "For Stevie Rae's sake." she added when the other three friends shot her odd looks.

* * *

"Stevie Rae! Stevie Rae!" A girl came running to the blonde, calling her name. Stevie Rae turned around and saw a flustered looking fledgling by the name of Shannoncompton. She panted before saying, "Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure!" Stevie Rae replied with a smile. "What is it?"

The other girl fidgeted with her sleeve before saying, "I think Aphrodite took something from me –a poetry book."

"Are you sure? I mean, the vamps are pretty thorough with this stuff. They probably got it back already."

Shannoncompton shook her head and continued, "No, I'm sure and I was wondering if you could get it, y'know 'cause your rooms are close, you could get it while she isn't looking?"

"Sneak into her room?" Stevie Rae asked doubtfully, "And you couldn't find anyone else?"

"Nobody else that I trust."

Stevie Rae knew it was crazy and Aphrodite wouldn't really steal from other people (unless she did and Stevie Rae didn't know) but she figured that she needed to have a word with Aphrodite anyways concerning the "Kate" issue so she reluctantly agreed.

* * *

She walked to the dorm only to be greeted by two cheerful Twins. Their identical but different selves grabbed both of her arms.

"We're watching Star Wars: Episode 3!" Shaunee cried urgently. Her dark complexion showed serious and exaggerated anxiety.

The second twin bore the same expression. "Get in. Get in! Get in!" Erin said, ushering the clueless Stevie Rae to the couch Damien and Zoey were sitting on, apparently having a debate over Luke and Anakin and which one was cooler.

"Turning on your Master and friends is _not _cool!" Damien exclaimed exasperated. His hands were balled up in fists and he seemed to be trying to return to his normal, calm self with _much_ difficulty. "It's lame!"

"So? We're talking coolness and not morality! In terms of coolness, Anakin _definitely_ wins! I mean; he's _Darth Vader_! It doesn't get cooler!"

"Luke cuts his _hand_ off!"

"It was a robotic hand! And if you ask any person who isn't a fan of Star Wars, he'd tell you that it had Darth Vader in it!" Zoey insisted. She threw her head down in a nod-like gesture that made all her dark locks cover her face as if trying to imitate Vader's mask with her hair. "He's _well known_!"

"They'd know Luke Skywalker too!"

"Vader's more famous!"

Stevie Rae interrupted the conversation out of the blue by saying, "I need to tell y'all something."

"Don't tell us it's Aphrodite-related." Shaunee whined and hopped in place like a child.

"Well, it sorta is but listen!" She gestured with her hand for her friends to huddle around her. "A girl tells me Aphrodite stole something from her and she wants _me_ to get in her room and steal it back but –"

"That _bitch_!" Erin almost raised her voice.

"Wait!" Stevie Rae whispered hurriedly, "_I_ think it was Kate so I thought maybe one of us could go pay Kate a visit while I go see Aphrodite."

"Well, I'm immediately ruled out 'cause I'm sorta not a girl." Damien joked but the end of his sentence trailed off when it seemed to him like a useless addition to the conversation.

"I'll do it!" Zoey immediately piped up.

"Great!"

"And us?" the Twins said simultaneously.

"You guys tell us what happens in Episode 3 even though we've seen it ten times already." Zoey said it almost as if it were a mission of great importance.

"Gee, Twin," Erin said sarcastically, "I feel _really_ important."

"I know, right?" Shaunee said.

* * *

_**Whoo! Chapter 1 -done! I hope you liked it! There will be Ezio-ness soon! So be patient, my pretties!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kate! (who isn't really a main character anyways)**_


	2. Messenger of Nyx

_**Okay. Seriously. No one reviewed. **_

_**... oh wait... it's only been two days... le gasp! Anyways, I know people have read this so REVIEW!**_

**_Or else..._**

* * *

Aphrodite stole off to her room as soon as her last period was over. She had so much to do. That _horrible_ Professor Neferet gave her extra homework. Aphrodite could swear that that woman had some kind of personal vendetta against her that she wasn't aware of. In addition to homework, she had to work on Dark Daughters stuff and, of course, she wanted to have "Aphrodite Time" too. As in: Relaxing and trying to read that play that the _godly gorgeous_ Professor Loren had given them.

As soon as she was in her room, she pulled out some books she had taken out of the library for Neferet's extra homework essay thing. She began leafing through them for anything relevant to the topic of her essay, which was, ironically, "History of Nyx's Prophets" –as in, the people Nyx gifted with premonition –does it ring a bell to anyone? And Aphrodite had a feeling that the "History of Nyx's Prophets" had nothing to do with Vamp Soc. She sighed and grimaced, cursing the headmistress under her breath, thankful that Neferet couldn't read her mind.

* * *

In Stevie Rae and Zoey's shared room, the two girls debated what they'd wear to their break-ins (if that's what you'd call it). Zoey insisted that they should wear tight clothes that would be comfortable, wouldn't cause them to fall around clumsily, and wouldn't bump into random things that could fall and make noise. Stevie Rae thought differently. She thought that in the spirit of the robbery (that's what she said), they should wear black. Didn't all movie robbers wear black to blend in?

"All I have are the stuff I wore to the Dark Daughters meetings." Zoey said holding out her tight black dress.

"It's great and I have black boots 'n' stuff to match 'em!"

"We're not robbing a room wearing dresses!"

"Do what you want!" Stevie Rae persisted, grabbing the dress from Zoey's hands, "I still wanna wear black."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Suddenly the girls broke into a fit of giggles and fell back onto Stevie Rae's bed. Stevie Rae hugged the dress to herself, trying to calm down and Zoey snorted a bit before her voice completely disappeared. They banged onto the bed, their movements almost identical to each other and then they slipped onto the ground and waited for themselves to become quiet again.

* * *

With a sigh, Aphrodite finished her note taking and began to write down her essay. She groaned when she thought about the other things that she had to do. Mindlessly writing the essay that she had gone through in her mind several times, she thought about her other duties and planned them out. She didn't need them down on paper –she had photographic memory and she was proud. When she had written the last of the essay, she proofread it then skimmed through it once more to make sure there were no mistakes at all. When she was sure it was perfect, she placed it in her book bag.

Deciding that Loren's play could wait, she retreated to her closet (yes, her closet) and lounged on the sofa (yes, sofa).After a little while, she dozed off.

* * *

Wearing the dress Z had given her, Stevie Rae knocked on the door to Aphrodite's room. Neither she, nor her roommate opened it. With a sigh, she twisted the doorknob and, much to her surprise, it opened easily. Soundlessly, she shut the door. The two beds were both unoccupied but she saw Aphrodite's bag on the bed to the right. She rushed to it and began searching for a poetry book. What did a poetry book look like anyways?

She took something out that looked like it was a poetry book but she noticed the cover said, "Othello" by Shakespeare. It was a play. She replaced it in the bag and looked again but it wasn't there. She suspected Aphrodite didn't have it anyways and thought of coming back when the ice queen was there.

Then something caught her attention. It was a door that was slightly ajar, letting in a dim orange light. Perhaps it was Aphrodite's fabled closet –the one with really expensive clothes that she imagined were probably stuff Paris Hilton would wear. She slowly opened the door and entered.

It certainly was a closet and it was amazing. In the dim light of the room, she saw Aphrodite asleep on a sofa that Stevie Rae was compelled to poke just to see how luxurious it was. There was a TV opposite of her, sitting on a dark brown, wooden cabinet that was up to her knees.

Curiosity got the best of Stevie Rae and she opened the cabinet. But nothing could prepare her mentally for what she saw. No, she did not see a dead body –though she wouldn't have been surprised if she did. She saw a rectangular, black box: An Xbox (I shit you not).

The first thought that crossed Stevie Rae's mind was: _Wait. Aphrodite plays video games? Ha! And she called _us_ dorks. Though, I sure would like try that some time. It looks fun._

Of course, she changed her mind when she saw that Aphrodite had only two games.

_How did she only have two games? Isn't she some rich gal?_

She picked up the two boxes: _Assassin's Creed _and _Assassin's Creed II_.

_Well, that might as well be one game! Assassin's _what_? Creed? What the heck was a creed? It sounds like one of Damien's vocab words._

The covers were almost identical in her opinion. Both had pictures of men in white robes in old settings that faded in white. So they'd be an assassin? So what? They would be some old man who killed people for a living? She failed to find the point of the games by judging the covers (and back covers –of course). Maybe it was like Grand Theft Auto. She never did like that game. She discarded the games in the cabinet, realizing that Aphrodite would be pissed if she found her. She deduced that she most definitely _didn't_ have the poetry book.

As soon as she made a move to leave the room, a woman appeared before her in the doorway of the closet. She glowed as if she were a ghost or something. She wore a long white veil and her hair cascaded down her back as if she were an angel. The top of her hair was covered by an elegant helmet that seemed to Stevie Rae like something from a movie about ancient Greece -or Rome. She was just breathtaking. She didn't even have a vampyre's mark so she was just naturally this gorgeous. The woman's face was expressionless. She couldn't see her eyes well but they seemed blank and Stevie Rae was scared that this was some kind of high-tech security system. It probably wasn't because Aphrodite herself was a security system. It was creepy but she expected Aphrodite to rise up suddenly like a zombie. The woman's mouth opened and she began to speak. Unfortunately, Aphrodite began to scream at the same time.

* * *

_Nothing is true –everything is permitted._

_Blinding, flashing lights were all around me._

_Red –blood. Blood –trust. Trust –honor._

_Nyx stood before me. She shook her head sadly and came forth to plant a kiss between my eyes. I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't speak either because my throat hurt. My eyes hurt. My head hurt. A vision? This was different. I had never seen anything about the Creed in my visions. I only knew what I learnt from Nyx –from the messenger she sent –from Minerva._

_

* * *

_

"_Stevie Rae Johnson,_" the scary woman whispered –or said. Oddly, Stevie Rae could hear her over the screaming. Maybe it was because the ghost/goddess/security system had multiple voices that all spoke at once, giving her an eerie feeling. The woman was also standing in place, not moving –Stevie Rae didn't think her _mouth_ was moving either. She didn't dare speak but let the woman finish."_I am Minerva. I am neither human nor vampyre, nor am I a goddess. I am a messenger of Nyx and Aphrodite is my prophetess._" Ah, crap. Did it have to be the hag from hell of all people? And why was she talking to Stevie Rae –it scared the socks off of her. "_You may not be able to understand this now but I must show you a vision, child –one that will perhaps alter your actions in the future for the better. There is a war coming –a war amongst the assassins and I'm afraid that will be the least of your problems. I need you to carry my message to Zoey Redbird. It will be of crucial importance._"

Finding her voice again –which was more difficult than one would think –Stevie Rae replied, "But why me? Why don't you show it directly to Z. Won't it be easier? I mean, unless it's gonna be all painful then maybe I _should _be the one to do it so Zoey doesn't have to –" Her rambling was suddenly cut off by the soft voice of Minerva.

"_Silence, child. We must make haste. Aphrodite will lead you to where you must go, teach you what you must be taught. It must be you, Stevie Rae Johnson. For you may not know it but your destiny is a great one._"

"What destiny?" Stevie Rae exclaimed, trying to step forward but finding herself paralyzed either by fear or by a force unknown to her. She threw her arms up in what she identified as probably frustration. "This is so darn confusing!"

_"Remember these words, child. Live by them. Live by the creed. Nothing is true –everything is permitted._" Minerva began to fade without trying any form of clarification –which she needed.

"No! Wait! I didn't understand anything!"

Unfortunately, the woman didn't seem to care that Stevie Rae hadn't understood as long as she got the message. She suddenly noticed her eyes hurt like hell and she had a horrible headache. She moaned and made her way to the door to tell Zoey all the weirdness that just happened.

* * *

_"Minerva, where am I?"_

_ "The child awaits you."_

_ "You were never one to speak much. I still don't get it. What child?"_

_ "Help her –guide her."_

_

* * *

_

"What the _hell _was that, Twin?" Shaunee murmured to her twin as they watched an intense lightsaber battle on the TV.

Erin shrugged and nibbled a piece of popcorn. "Dunno. It came from there." She pointed blindly in the direction of Aphrodite, Stevie Rae and Zoey's rooms. "Wanna check?"

"It beats watching this for the millionth time." Shaunee replied and stood up.

* * *

The Twins weren't the only ones. Zoey, who had decided to make her visit to Kate's a casual one, heard the screams as well. Two screams in perfect sync with each other. Kate looked at the door before rushing towards it. She stopped and looked back at Zoey who seemed to be in shock or something. "Well, are you coming?"

"Oh!" Zoey exclaimed, breaking free of her trance and running after Kate.

* * *

Aphrodite awoke, shuddering and sobbing. She knew what she had to do and it wasn't going to be pretty. She glanced at the child who was clutching her head in her hands walking away in awe and fear perhaps. She was so innocent and inexperienced. Her blonde ringlets covered her neck and back where the black dress that adorned her didn't. She approached her slowly, seeing nothing but her student. _I am the master this time._

_Stop crying, you foolish girl! _Her mind screamed at the student.

* * *

_Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. _Stevie Rae kept repeating it over and over again in her head and maybe out loud but she didn't pay attention. She put as much focus as she could into reaching the door and getting to Zoey. She felt a dampness falling down her face and realized she was crying. Her eyes stung even more. _Ah, must get to Zoey like the ghost –Minerva said_.

She heard shuffling behind her and realized that Aphrodite had awoken. She froze in anxiety, afraid of what Aphrodite was going to do to her since she was obviously in her room without permission. She could say that she heard screaming and came but Aphrodite was too scary to lie to. She had this look where she just looked at you and you knew you were going to get it _bad_ if you didn't tell her the truth. Behind her, Aphrodite was glaring daggers into the shorter girl and froze her even more to her spot if that was possible.

_Stop crying, you foolish girl!_

It sure sounded like Aphrodite but vampyres couldn't do that, right? Speak with their minds?

In the blink of an eye (as in, speed not known to man or vampyre), Aphrodite was standing in front of Stevie Rae. Her eyes were bloodshot and her complexion was pale. She was scary like a ghost or rabid beast or something but Stevie Rae couldn't bring herself to leave or run away, just stare.

The scary fledgling inched her face closer to the scared one. Her teeth touched Stevie Rae's neck and the younger fledgling didn't even flinch away. She just winced, took a deep breath and braced herself for the bite she expected.

_Three, two –be ready, student –one…_

Stevie Rae didn't even scream when it happened.

Aphrodite bit down and hard.

There was no pain and no pleasure, just fear.

She saw flashes of an old town appear below her tightly shut eyelids.

Then she blacked out.

* * *

_**Oh my! Suspense! I wonder what'll happen next! Psh.. as if it isn't obvious... *coughcough* Now -uhhh -press that button down there!**_

_**Go.**_

_**Do it.**_

_**Now.**_

_**Seriously.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own HoN or Assassin's Creed -but it would rock if I did ;D**_


	3. System Failure

_**Oh my. Ezio's in this one -wink-**_

* * *

Desmond's eyes shot wide open as he was hurriedly let out of the Animus. He saw a blur of yellow, white, red and green. It looked like Lucy leaning over him and pulling on his arm, supporting him so he could get off. "Ur-ry, Desm-d" her unclear voice shouted to him.

He felt feeling rush into his body as everything suddenly became clearer. "C'mon Desmond." Lucy's voice rang, sharp and vivid in his ears. He saw her features clearly now, the roof of the hideout and Rebecca arguing with Shaun. He rose to his feet and stepped out of the Animus.

"What's going on?" Desmond murmured, dizzily. "Did the bad guys find us?"

"No, the 'bad guys' didn't find us!" Shaun mocked him, "I'll tell you what's going on. Rebecca screwed up –big time! There's an error in the machine. You have to restart all of Ezio's memories _all_ over again!"

"Shut the hell up, Shaun! I checked Baby for glitches all the time!" Rebecca countered. She turned back to her computer and typed furiously. "I'm searching and I still can't find any problems at all!" She threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Maybe the problems were with the memories themselves." Lucy suggested, walking back to her desk in the corner of the room. "I mean. Maybe someone's altered them –Abstergo perhaps?"

"Nah," Rebecca said. "These memories can only be altered from _inside_ the Animus by someone with serious decoding skills. I doubt Desmond's decoding abilities."

"Hey!" Desmond cried out.

"Shut up. You know it's true!"

Desmond sighed and shook his head, "Well, tell me what I have to do then."

"You restart, that's what." Lucy said, her blue eyes focused on Desmond's brown ones. "We don't have much time so you'd better hurry. If the problem is with the memories, it shouldn't be dangerous to put you back into the Animus."

Rebecca grinned triumphantly, "Take _that_, Shaun! It wasn't Baby's fault!"

Shaun groaned. "Don't be so immature, Rebecca and let's get to work before the Templars find out our location."

Still smiling arrogantly, the technician patted the seat of the Animus. "Alright, Des, you should get back now."

He nodded without a word and sat back down in the red seat of the Animus 2.0 as Rebecca liked to consider it. He closed his eyes and began to see flashes of white under his eyelids. The town of Florence began generating all around him and as soon as it was over, he was Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the midst of a fight with Vieri de Pazzi.

Ezio and his companions fought them off with ease –just like it happened before. Federico came and helped finish them off in the end.

The Auditore brothers sat atop a church tower and overlooked the town.

"It's a good life we lead, brother," the eldest remarked.

"The best."

"May it never change."

"And may it never change us."

* * *

Rodrigo Borgia heard muffled cries outside. He looked up from the piece of parchment he was studying and headed to the window nearest to him. He opened it and the crying was louder. It was a young girl –probably a courtesan giving birth in the streets. Filthy women if you asked him. He scowled and shouted "People are trying to work here, shameless whore! Stop your incessant crying!" his voice echoed on the walls of the plaza in front of his home.

"Please help me. I'm lost." The girl whispered audibly. "I don't know where I am."

He groaned and decided to see what the girl was doing outside of his estate. He rushed down the stairs and out his door. The girl was not what he expected. She dressed in some odd black clothing and she looked like a French girl –not Italian. When she saw him, her eyes widened then she shut them tightly. "I'm not going to hurt you, girl!" he exclaimed impatiently. "I want to know who you are and where you're from."

"I –I'm Stevie Rae." she stuttered and opened her eyes to look at the older man. "I'm lost. I came from –" she paused and looked around. "somewhere very far away."

"You don't know?" he resisted growling.

"_You_ don't know."

Her last statement confused him but he figured that the girl –what was her name again? –was probably confused as well. "How did you get to Florence?" his voice was calmer now and Stevie Rae calmed a bit as well.

"I don't know!" she cried.

Rodrigo examined the girl's face. She was a pretty young girl of marriageable age. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot. Some blood also streamed down her face like tears –or were those her tears? She also had an odd mark on her forehead; a blue crescent outline that had a strand of her golden hair running through it. "What happened to you? You look ill." He walked towards her and grabbed her bare arm roughly, pulling the timorous girl onto her feet. "I will have my maids look after you and then you will answer my questions. You may only stay the night then I will take you to a brothel and you will be _their_ problem."

She looked hurt at the fact that he had called her a problem but he didn't care. "What's a brothel?" she inquired.

"A whore house." He grumbled, not concerned for her thoughts on being tossed into a house of prostitutes, and went into his house and she followed him idly. He went upstairs and told her to stay put so she did. Of all the people she could've annoyed, it had to be _him_. He grumbled under his breath and went back to his work.

* * *

Clad in a body-hugging green dress, Hana, a young courtesan walked the streets of Venice. She loved it. How the men admired her as she strutted by –how their wives wished they looked like her. She giggled and blew a kiss to a group of guards that was hooting at her. She danced down the street at first, looking at how it's simple in some places and gorgeous in other places. Soon her dancing turned to skipping and running and jumping. The wind blew through her hair and she felt so free. She laughed when she thought of Madonna Olivia's face when she asks her why she was out so long. Suddenly, she bumped into a girl.

"Pardone signora!" the girl mumbled and rushed off.

"No problem." she said but then felt her pockets. Her money was gone. "No. Wait!" Hana called and ran after her. The girl looked behind her and ran faster. "Damn it! Give me my purse back! _Thief_!" Hana cried.

The courtesan's shreik alerted the guards who looked in Hana's direction while she ran desperately after the theif. Then they glanced at the girl she was chasing. Some of them shouted, "Get her!" and then half of the watch in the street were chasing after the girl (probably hoping to get under Hana's skirt if they succeed).

Hana scowled and cried, "Give it back!"

Unexpectedly, the girl disappeared in the crowd.

She stopped running and looked around puzzled then spotted her by the Rialto. The thief hopped into the water and vanished within it.

"Damn you!" Hana shouted to the water. She noticed the guards stopped beside her. They lost her as well. "My money!" she pleaded hopelessly as if her plea would bring back the stolen florins which –she had to admit –were long gone now.

She felt someone grab her arm and was pulled into a random embrace, "I will give you all the money you want if you come to _my_ house." He breathed down her neck. His breath smelled of alcohol and something putrid. She winced but it was expected. It was her job to pleasure men (and women if she had to). But Hana just wasn't in the mood.

"Later. I must get back home." She murmured and ducked out of the horny guard's grasp. She dashed through the crowds and back to the building she stayed in with her sisters.

* * *

The thief emerged from the river and smirked at how simple it was to take the money. Obviously, the guards wouldn't take that prostitute seriously. It made her chuckle to think about what the guards were having her do to return the "Favor" of _chasing_ the thief –if that could be considered a favor since whether or not they had tried to chase her wouldn't have made much of a difference regarding the retrieval of the money. She rushed to her destination quickly.

Before even knocking, a man opened the door for her. He smiled and said, "So, _Prophetess_, do you have the money?" The way he said her title showed that he didn't believe her story.

She pulled out the sack of money she had pick-pocketed. "One thousand florins, Antonio. Now take me to Giovanni Auditore."

He took the sack, lifted it up slightly above his head and kissed the bottom of it, "Thank you. I shall have my thieves take you to Firenze promptly."

* * *

When Ezio returned to his home from Christina's house, his father called him into his study. He entered immediately; his feet made the wooden floor beneath his feet and the carpet creak. "Did you need something, Padre?" he asked his father who had a quill in his hand and seemed to have been writing something down before Ezio emerged.

"Yes," Giovanni nodded and placed the pen into the inkwell. "I need you to get a letter for me from a man who will be standing in front of the cathedral."

Ezio nodded. "Of course, father," he replied politely and turned on his heel. He left quickly and obediantly to seek the letter carrier.

The man was in front of the cathedral, just as his father had described but he was almost hiding in a shadowy corner of the large structure. "Come here, boy!" the man was hissing. Ezio did what he was told and came to the man. He wondered why he couldn't simply receive this message from the bird coop but perhaps it was an urgent and confidential letter which made the boy all the more curious. "Give this to your father."

Wordlessly, Ezio obeyed and headed to his home. When Ezio's inquisitiveness had finally made him snap, he stopped in the middle of his path and opened the letter.

_Ser Giovanni,_

_ I must meet with you immediately. It is of great importance. I will not put too much detail in this letter, lest it be intercepted but meet me where the tower meets midday sun. Bring no one._

_ ~The Prophetess_

Ezio sealed the letter again so his father wouldn't know he read it and returned. He considered asking his father who the Prophetess was but decided against it because he thought his father wouldn't trust him if he had read a letter as secret and urgent as this without permission.

* * *

"Now what is that mark on your head?" a maid muttered getting her cloth we to attempt to wash off the fledgling mark on Stevie Rae's forehead after she had bathed and was now wrapped in a towel in the maids' chambers.

"It won't go away." Stevie Rae replied pushing the woman's hand down gently.

"Why?" the maid replied, setting the cloth down in the basin beside her.

"You won't be scared if I tell you?"

The maid chuckled and stood up wit her hands at her hips. She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone "If you've been here as long as I have, you'd know that there is _nothing_ as frightening as Ser Rodrigo after a hard day of work."

Stevie Rae laughed uneasily and said, "Well, it's my mark. The mark of a vampyre fledgling."

"Vampyre. Children of night. It's not just legend?"

"No. Are you scared?" Stevie Rae asked, "'Cause if you are, you shouldn't be. I'm real friendly and fledglings don't drink blood. We think it's just as gross as you do."

"You seem to be a pure and good-hearted girl. Why should I be afraid?" she replied, "I shall tell Master that it is a permanent mark of the family you came from."

The maid who tended to Stevie Rae was an aged woman named Eva. She was far gentler than Rodrigo and when Stevie Rae told her she didn't want to go to a brothel because she was afraid they'd make her like them, Eva asked Rodrigo if she could stay if she worked around the house. Eventually, he agreed if Stevie Rae worked as a chambermaid for him.

At first, Stevie Rae thought it would be an alright job then she realized how big Rodrigo's house was (and this was only during her first week in the godforsaken mansion). She would often get lost and her back would ache from mopping and sweeping, picking up Rodrigo's clothes from the ground and putting them away. The worst part was that there always seemed to be something wrong with what she was doing so the "Master" would often shout at her for not doing a good job. It frustrated her so much but it beat being with a bunch of prostitutes, right? Maybe not but she had already begged Rodrigo to stay so it wouldn't make sense to leave.

Stevie Rae wondered what she was brought here for. She was sure it wasn't to be Rodrigo's maid because obviously, being a servant wasn't the great destiny that Minerva mentioned to her. Hopefully, she would get out more, though. Then maybe she'd be able to find out how to leave. Maybe Aphrodite would appear to her like Minerva did or something freaky like that and lead her towards a hopefully brighter destiny. One could only hope. What was that? She actually _wanted _Aphrodite around? Well, now you know how awful Rodrigo is.

* * *

_**Review... I'm begging you. xD**_

_**Disclaimer: Do I really need to put one? If it's on then I probably don't own it.**_


	4. Reality Check

_**Haha! Chapter 4! I didn't think I'd get this far -but considering the shortness of my chapters, that's not something really hard.**_

_**No Ezio in this chapter 'cause I'm such a tease!**_

* * *

Shaunee's mind couldn't think of anything but those oddly familiar screams and if she knew her twin well enough (and she did), Erin probably couldn't get them off of her mind either. Had Aphrodite found Stevie Rae and was doing the unspeakable to her? She expected something like that from the hag bitch. She just hoped Stevie Rae was alright.

* * *

Kate's room wasn't far from Aphrodite's and it took them seconds to arrive. The door was unlocked and the girls rushed inside. Kate may have disliked Stevie Rae and Aphrodite but the sight she saw when she entered the closet was appalling. Both of the girls were lying on the ground beside each other.

Aphrodite's usually perfect hair was all over the place. Her eyes were wide open, bloody and looked like something out of a gory horror flick. Her mouth was outlined in red too which was covering her chin.

Stevie Rae had her eyes closed but there were red strokes –like tear marks or something –running down her face under her eyes. It looked like something bit out of her neck (Zoey thought that perhaps it was Aphrodite being delusional before she passed out from her vision) and the blood was staining it and the dress Zoey lent her.

Stevie Rae was still –like she was dead (but Kate and Zoey wouldn't dare think it) –but Aphrodite, on the other hand, was shuddering like she was possessed by a demon or something. Their first impulse was to scream at the horrifying sight.

* * *

Erin and Shaunee found the door to Aphrodite's room open and a group of girls were there, gossiping and gasping. The twins pushed through the crowd until they reached Zoey and Kate who were at the front of the crowd. Kate was staring dumbly at the scene before her while Zoey was on the ground, rocking back and forth in tears for her best friend. The twins did what everyone did when they first saw Aphrodite and Stevie Rae, they shrieked in horror.

"What the _fuck _just happened here?" Erin exclaimed; feeling that the bad words were necessary to show just how surprised and disgusted she was at the whole prospect

Everyone stopped talking. Obviously, this meant that Erin was the first person to say anything about the _thing _outloud since it happened. Soon, Neferet began pushing through the group of girls that was crammed inside the small room. Her eyes fell upon the unconscious fledglings. Her eyes widened and she looked down thoughtfully or maybe just to calm herself down from what she saw. "Fledglings," she said when she regained her serene mood, "Get back to your rooms. We don't know what happened to Stevie Rae and Aphrodite but when we do, we will tell you. It seems they're still alive and I will tend to their wounds." She then dropped down next to Zoey and spoke a few words to her that caused the young girl to nod and go away.

Erin and Shaunee followed Zoey. When Zoey had left, the other fledglings followed her. Kate was the last to leave and it seemed like she was scared and scarred. Neferet embraced the new girl and took her to her room. Shortly after, Professor Lankford and Professor Loren picked the two girls up and took them to the infirmary.

* * *

Damien left his room chuckling at what he thought Stevie Rae and Zoey would say about their little project. He imagined that Aphrodite caught Stevie Rae and he was almost positive that Zoey didn't _sneak _into Kate's room. He also couldn't wait to share the new vocabulary words he had dug up just to tease the twins: Superfluous, canny, whittle –

His recollection of the words was interrupted by the odd and eerie quietness of the cafeteria and the fact that his group's table was missing somebody; it was missing Stevie Rae. Erin and Shaunee had their arms wrapped around Zoey who was in hysterics. He rushed to the table and sat in front of Zoey. "What happened?"

Zoey choked and shook her head so Erin spoke for her. "It's Stevie Rae –and Aphrodite. They –yesterday –when Zoey was with Kate and Stevie Rae went to Aphrodite's room, something happened and it's –they're both unconscious. We're scared that –" she stopped speaking because she was obviously having difficulty explaining as she undoubtedly had no idea what was going on herself. Although, everyone knew the end of that sentence was '_she'll reject the change_'

"Professor Neferet said she'd try and figure it out with the other professors and tell us the next morning –which is now." Shaunee said, probably oblivious to the fact that she was stating the obvious.

As if Shaunee's statement had summoned her, the majestic Professor stepped into the cafeteria with the Poet Laureate at her side. She didn't even need to tell the students to be quiet because everyone became silent as soon as she arrived –as if her arrival put the students on mute. Neferet cleared her throat before speaking. "We have looked over the bodies of your two colleagues, Stevie Rae Johnson and Aphrodite Lafont, many times. Yet we cannot determine what is wrong with them." Most of the students gasped at the last part. "_But_," she continued, "We are pleased to say that they are not rejecting the change and we hope that they will awaken soon from what we think is a trance of some sort." She looked down in sorrow. "Will Stevie Rae and Aphrodite's friends meet me during the lunch break?" she asked in conclusion and walked away, Loren followed after her.

Zoey was still shuddering, but more silently, knowing her best friend would live. The rest were also silent. "We should say something. This quietness isn't really working for me –she didn't die." Erin stated. "And we're really acting like it."

Then the unexpected happened; Zoey shot them a very wide smile, "You guys are right, there's no point in being all depressed about this. She will live. But we should get to the library. Maybe we could find something they missed."

Erin and Shaunee stared blankly and stupidly at Zoey, "Uh Z? Did you just say we'd have to read and research?" Erin asked.

"That's not our forte." Shaunee explained.

Damien smacked his forehead and said, "I'll help you out with that."

* * *

At lunch, the four friends headed to Neferet's office and found Deino, Enyo and their third friend, Pemphredo sitting outside. They looked terribly sad. Upon closer examination, they noticed Erik Night leaning on a wall, looking down. Zoey was surprised at first; she honestly expected nobody to be there for Aphrodite. She thought they hung out with her for her popularity. Maybe there was a likeable Aphrodite on the inside –deep, _deep, __**deep **_inside of her.

They all waited for a few minutes. Then Neferet emerged from her office. She was wearing a flowing black gown that complimented her curvy body. "Thank you all for coming." She began. "I just wanted you here to say this." Erin and Shaunee looked hopeful at these words. Zoey and Aphrodite's trio looked terrified. The boys just looked anxious. "Your friends might not make it. I honestly doubt it." She looked at Damien who seemed to be deep in thought. "I suggest you take whatever of your friends' belongings you want to keep in case being away from their bodies for too long causes them to –" She trailed off.

"No!" Shaunee exclaimed. "You're just giving up hope? There's bound to be an explanation for this. I will not just accept some possibility of death when there's a possibility that they'll live that we're just _ignoring_!"

Erin looked at her twin then nodded fiercely. "She's right. You vamps may have given up on Stevie Rae and Aphrodite but we can't! It's not right. We're gonna do all we can and even after we've done all we could, we'll try some more!"

Zoey's spirits lifted at their speech and Damien was nodding. Aphrodite's friends were grinning. Erik then spoke up. "I admire that you're going to try, but what will you guys do exactly?"

"We're going to the library of course." Erin and Shaunee said simultaneously and walked out of the office.

"I'm coming with you!" Enyo cried out and followed them.

Zoey and Damien rushed out as well, leaving Deino, Pemphredo and Erik. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Neferet asked, gesturing to the door. Pemphredo noticed a hint of annoyance in her voice, which she ignored. She pulled on Deino's arm and left with Erik right behind them.

Neferet sighed and went back into the office and shut the door behind her. She growled and slammed a fist on her desk.

* * *

The twins walked into the library confidently. Then they were lost. They never researched –_never_ (without internet –that is). They stared at the rows of books dumbfounded. The librarian walked up to the two girls. "Can I help you?" she asked sweetly.

"Uh, yeah." Erin replied.

Shaunee finished for her. "What's the first thing you search for when your friend and some other chick are under some curse –slash –trance thing and they look like they're dead."

"Oh!" Erin added, "And if that other chick happens to be psychic."

"You search the 'other chick's' room." Professor Loren said. He was sitting on a table near the librarian and looked up from the book he was reading to answer the two girls. His voice startled them and they nearly swooned at the sight of him but Zoey's voice snapped them out of it.

"Then that's what we'll do," she declared.

Pemphredo spoke now, "Hey, wait up! What exactly do we search for?"

Loren sighed and got out of his seat. He walked to the group of eight. "Think. What would lead you to what was on Aphrodite's mind for a while?"

"We look at what she was reading –what she was writing." Damien said.

"Exactly."

"So we're off to Aphrodite's room?" Enyo said.

"Not without her roomie's permission." Erik said matter-of-factly.

"Not without your Professor's permission." Loren added. "Don't you have classes to get to?"

Zoey checked her watch. "They're just about to start."

"Well thank you for stating the obvious!" Deino said and everyone but Zoey and Damien ran off to their lessons.

"You should go now." Loren muttered and went back to his table and his book. Zoey nodded as if she were paying attention. He was _so_ hot. Damien rolled his eyes, grabbed his entranced friend's hand and they went off to their class.

* * *

After classes, Zoey knocked on the room beside hers –Aphrodite's room in case you hadn't known before. Venus opened the door for her. "What're _you_ doing here?" she said bitterly, with as scowl which showed that she was about to slam the door in Zoey's face. She looked haggard but in her own attractive way. Her hair was all over the place, she had no makeup on and her pyjamma was really shabby.

"Hey, I lost my roommate too. No need to be grumpy about it!" Zoey then made a mental note to make sure that she herself didn't look haggard as well. She didn't recall fixing herself up when she woke up that morning because she was so upset about Stevie Rae.

The other girl sighed and muttered something that sounded really mean under her breath. "What are you doing here?" she repeated only her voice sounded friendlier –perhaps even understanding.

"I want to look through Aphrodite's stuff." Zoey replied. "We're trying to find out what she's been thinking lately."

"If you wanna get into her mind, get into her closet. She spent a lot of time there." Venus replied with a yawn. She really must've been tired. Maybe she couldn't sleep without Aphrodite in her room with her. "I don't know what she kept in there but explore a bit. I'm sure you'll find more than shoes in there."

Zoey smiled, "Thanks." She entered the room. When she was in the closet, she called out to the other girl, "Did Aphrodite keep a diary or something?"

"Um, yeah!" Venus's voice sounded drowsily and she made her way into the closet as well. "I think I found it while I was snooping once. It's not –"

Venus's jaw dropped when she got in. Zoey didn't understand. There was nothing wrong with the closet, was there? "Hey, are you alright?"

"No!" Venus exclaimed and pulled an old Prada shoebox out from behind a floor cabinet. Zoey really wanted to know what kind of shoes were in that box. "It's backwards! Aphrodite _never_ kept it backwards." Zoey was about to question what the relevance of a shoebox was in the whole issue then – "Son of a _bitch_! Someone was in here!" She hastily opened the box. It was empty. "Someone has the diary! I hope they didn't take anything else," she murmured. Wait? Aphrodite kept her diary in a Prada shoebox? Who wouldn't be compelled to open that? What a stupid place to hide something secret. Venus then approached a dark, wooden cabinet and opened it shakily like she expected a monster to be inside. "_Dammit_! They have the Xbox too!" She growled and stomped out of the closet.

Zoey looked flabbergasted at the whole sight. "Did she just say 'Xbox'?"

_Gah. Rich bitch._

* * *

**_Well, you know my terms. Review please! And remember -I DO NOT IN ANY WAY OWN HON OR AC!_**


	5. It is Prophesied

**_Hai. I'm back. With more Ezio.

* * *

_**

At sunset, Giovanni rushed out of his home. He didn't know who this "Prophetess" was but she knew of the creed and she would either be killed for being a spy or she was an assassin as well. He was stopped on his way out by his son, Federico.

"Father, where are you going?"

Giovanni didn't have time for this. Some person who allegedly knew something about him and his family was waiting for him and he had to see her! "I'm sorry but I'll tell you when I return. I'm late!"

The son nodded, "Whatever you say."

Giovanni passed him a quick grin and began hurrying away. By tower, she obviously meant the chapel tower that his sons liked to climb upon. It was not too far from his house.

Halfway to the tower, he realized that he should've left more inconspicuously but looking behind him, he saw nobody that looked suspicious or like a spy. He told himself that it would probably nothing to worry about because this girl obviously liked speaking in riddles and a spy wouldn't understand her anyways.

When he reached the cathedral, he didn't see any women. He looked around. She must've been somewhere. Maybe it was a man saying he was a woman to mislead. Then he shook his head. That probably wasn't it. He then had an idea. He began climbing the belfry when nobody was looking. She would most definitely be up there.

* * *

Federico sighed at his father's rather suspicious behavior and called his younger brother from inside the house –and yes, Ezio was at home for once in his life. He told Ezio about their father. "I feel like there's something he's keeping from us. What should we do? Should we ask him about it when he comes back?"

"No!" Ezio cried out. "Are you insane? What will he tell us? 'It's business! It doesn't concern you!' is what he'll say. I think we should follow him!" He ran for the gate leading out of the estate.

Now it was Federico who asked his brother, "Are _you_ insane? _Spy_ on our own father? What will he say if he catches us?"

Ezio pondered for a moment. He had already sneaked a peek at the mysterious letter and now he was suggesting that they spy on their father's meeting with the unknown sender. He knew he was acting like he didn't trust his own father and he didn't know how much of it was mistrust and how much was pure curiosity. "He won't catch us."

"Alright. But how do we know where he's going?"

"I read a letter from the woman who's meeting him. It sounds like they're going to 'our spot'" Ezio replied with a chuckle when he said "our spot"

Federico pursed his lips for a moment thoughtfully and tried to recall what Ezio meant by "our spot" When he realized he said, "Well, I'm sure our father's well on his way by now. We'll miss the meeting by the time we arrive."

"Not if we travel by the rooftops!" Ezio said cheerfully and began climbing the wall outside of the Auditore property.

Federico threw his head up and laughed at his brother's enthusiasm before climbing after him. When they were both on top of their house, Ezio cried, "I'll race you to the church!"

"You're on, brother!"

The two boys became a blur of brown and black, jumping from roof to roof, ignoring the annoyed glances of guards and Vieri's men as they passed. They heard many remarks as they jumped through the town like "They must've been drinking the good stuff!" or "He must be laid –and _she_ must be beautiful!"

Eventually they arrived just as their father had begun to climb to the top of the tower. The older brother stopped and said, "We can't hear what they say if they're on top of that tower! We must go inside and listen from the windows!"

And so they did…

* * *

"Hey, Luce," Rebecca looked up from her mini screen as Ezio climbed the interior of the tower. "This must be the change that caused the failure! Come take a look."

Lucy nodded and got up from her desk. They had never come across that memory the first time. Maybe it had something to do with that mysterious prophetess. Yes, that _had_ to be it! And as if he had been listening to her thoughts, Shaun stated, "It must be that prophetess lady. We'll have to wait and see. It's a good thing Ezio is such a dumb kid or we wouldn't even know about this."

"Hey!" Rebecca exclaimed, "I'd call him adventurous and not dumb."

Lucy sighed when she sensed an argument. "Alright, _children_," she emphasized on the word, "stop fighting and get back to work!" The two "children" glared at each other then Lucy, then each other again before getting back to whatever they were doing.

* * *

Giovanni was finally at the top of the tower. Just as he anticipated, he saw a woman, cloaked in black. He couldn't see her face but he knew it was a woman from her petite frame under the cloak. He expected her to pull down her hood when he arrived but she didn't. "Hello, Giovanni Auditore."

Not even bothering with Hellos, Giovanni got straight to business and said, "Who are you, what do you know and how do you know it?"

She chuckled. "My name is Nyx but I cannot appear to you in person so I am appearing to you as a young girl named Aphrodite. As for what I know, it is that your family is in trouble. You must be cautious about who you place your trust with. How I know? You would not believe me if I told you."

"Try me," he said.

"Maybe another time, Ser Giovanni," she replied and then the girl before him fainted.

A few locks of blonde hair appeared from under the hood she wore. It also showed her youth. Her face was unblemished save a crescent moon outline on her forehead. "She is young," he mumbled and carried him over his shoulder as he began his descent of the tower.

* * *

"Our family's in trouble?" Federico said, worried.

Ezio started to climb down the tower as he said, "She's saying that we will be betrayed."

"Should we tell father what we know?"

"Then he won't trust us." Ezio whispered.

"We're his sons!" the elder brother snapped back at the younger one when they finished their descent. Ezio shrugged and they made sure their father was nowhere in sight before strolling out of the large chapel.

* * *

Stevie Rae had been miserable the past couple of days since she suddenly appeared in Florence and wondered what Zoey and the gang were doing without her in real life or if her "vision" –or whatever it was –was just a pause in time and when she woke up, she'd still be in Aphrodite's room, hoping she didn't wake up. Rodrigo was a horrible boss. He was just downright mean and she was beginning to suspect he was beginning to get attached to her in all the wrong ways.

"You will get used to it," Amina, a Moorish girl who worked with her, told her one day as they were folding Rodrigo's clean sheets. "He seems like bad man but he's care for us."

Stevie Rae smiled and ignored her broken up language, "Thanks for making me feel better," she mumbled, unsure if she _wanted_ to feel better around that man. He leaked creepiness and something deep inside her said, "Don't go near the mean man 'cause mean man is mean!" But she shrugged it off for the time being since she needed the money anyways –unless US dollars worked in Florence (and she didn't have any even if they did). Anyways, prostitution was out of the question and she had no idea how to apply for any other job here so being a maid would have to do. Plus, this job gave her food and housing.

"Stevie Rae." The man's voice sounded from behind her.

"Yes, _Ser_ Rodrigo?" she said, as she had been instructed by the other workers in the house.

"I need you to accompany me to an –" he paused for a second, "event. Have the other girls dress you in appropriate clothing," he said. The blonde girl looked down at her shabby maid's outfit which was a tear away from becoming rags. She noticed that he was right; those clothes _were _far from appropriate. Amina nodded from beside Stevie Rae and pulled her towards the door. "No, _you _stay and fold the rest of the laundry, girl," he barked at the dark skinned woman whose enthusiasm at doing something other than fold laundry was put out immediately.

"Y-yes, Ser Rodrigo," she mumbled and sat back down on the ground beside the piles of robes and blankets.

Stevie Rae rushed out of the room and went to the maid's quarters. She was relieved to do something other than clean –even if it was leaving to an event as Rodrigo's –gag –date. The maids that had nothing to do were in the room. They all looked up from their chattering when Stevie Rae burst into the room. Eva was there too. She rose and hugged Stevie Rae. She smiled and wrinkles appeared by her eyes. "How are you, dear? Are you done?"

The vampyre shook her head, "No, I have to go somewhere with the master and he wants me all gussied up for it."

"'Gussied up'?"

Stevie Rae laughed when the old woman didn't understand her expressions and explained for her. "He wants me in presentable clothes."

"Ah." Eva smiled in realization. Stevie Rae wondered how that woman kept the smile on her face while she was in this hellhole. Eva led the young girl out of the maid's quarters, up the stairs and through the winding halls of Rodrigo Bogia's huge house until they reached another bedroom that looked unused because Stevie Rae had never went to clean it before. Eva opened a drawer in the big armoire beside the door and disappeared inside it for a while. She then emerged with a key. She then used that key to open a larger closet, which had too many gowns in it to count.

"Wow." Stevie Rae whispered.

"Yes, it _is_ pretty impressive." Eva said and waved her hands as if inviting Stevie Rae into the closet.

"This would totally put Aphrodite's closet to shame," she mumbled and felt the silk of one of the dresses, which was gorgeous. It was red with wide, long sleeves. It had white frills and sparkles she suspected were gems at the wide neckline. "They're really pretty," she noted and proceeded to examine another dress that was similar only it was dark blue with a smaller collar. "I wanna wear this one."

Eva shot another one of her trademark smiles and said, "Excellent eye, _Lady_ Stevie Rae." The vampyre giggled at the title. Eva pulled it out and put it against Stevie Rae's body. "It brings out your unique blue eyes. Come. Undress while I find you a pair of shoes."

"What about the corset?" the question came out of Stevie Rae's mouth before she could stop it. But she _had_ been wondering if she'd have to wear one of those odd _things_ that would suffocate her she imagined. Where would she put it? Did she have to take her bra off? _No._ She would _not_ take her bra off! Maybe it could go over –

The fledgling's innner argument was cut off by Eva who replied, "What about it? What's a 'corset'?"

Stevie Rae stared in shock. They _didn't _have corsets in whatever year they were in? _That's like running around bra-less,_ she thought, confused. She smacked her forehead mentally. She always sucked at European history and here she was acting like an expert in front of someone who was _living_ in European history.

Fortunately, Eva shrugged it off then disappeared, saying, "Go get out of your garments so I can help you with the gown." Stevie Rae nodded and blushed at the thought of undressing in front of somebody else but in this era, it must've been the most natural thing for a woman to undress in front of another woman –or at least in front of the maid.

The maid came back with the shoes which weren't as scary as Stevie Rae anticipated. Okay –understatement. They were _really_ tall with these wooden soles that would probably make Stevie Rae look half a foot taller if not more. Maybe these were heels in the past. They seemed as painful as normal heels (normal being the heels from the future –slash –present). Stevie Rae waited for Eva to put them down and help her in them but she just then gawked at Stevie Rae's breasts. "My face is up here!" the younger girl exclaimed.

Eva ignored her and felt the cloth of her bra, "I've always wanted to ask you;" she mumbled, "What is this?"

"My bra! Don't touch it!" Stevie Rae snapped and slapped the woman's hand away. She wasn't about to have _anyone _feel her around _there _–girl or not.

"Well, what does it do? Does it go under the dress?"

"Uh." Stevie Rae looked up in thought and grinned at the woman's lack of knowledge of the modern world. "It's kinda like something to –" then she realized that she didn't exactly know how to explain to Eva the purpose of a bra so she just shrugged and said, "It just goes under all clothes."

"Very well then." Eva smiled and crouched down to put the shoes onto Stevie Rae's feet. After a few minutes, they finally had the dress on. It looked _ver_y _pretty_. When she saw herself, she couldn't believe it. The dress alone made her look prettier and Eva had yet to do Stevie Rae's hair and makeup.

* * *

_**Yes, Stevie Rae doesn't know anything about the Renaissance. It's funner that way.**_

_**Just so you know, I would love to own Assassin's Creed and House of Night, but sadly, I don't.**_


	6. A Nasty Headache

_**Lu here! With Chapter Six and some drama o.o**_

* * *

Federico arrived to the Auditore home alone. He knocked then opened the door silently. He heard chattering from the dining room and found his whole family –except for Ezio –sitting at the dinner table with a strange girl. She was wearing thieves' clothing and had very long blonde hair. He wondered for a bit how she was able to move freely with so much hair to get in her way.

With a closer look, he noticed a blue crescent on her head. He wondered why it seemed like nobody was curious about it. His family _was_ pretty curious. She might have explained it to them while he was gone.

The girl noticed his gawking and winked at him. He snapped out of his trance and took the empty seat next to Petruccio. "So, who is this girl?" he asked and began putting food into his plate.

"Well," Maria began, "Your father found her. She was lost and didn't seem to be able to find her way back home so we've decided to keep her here until her family comes looking for her." She put a hand on the girl's hand –her name was Aphrodite, right? Or Nyx? "Her name is Aphrodite." Maria then said, as if she knew what her son was thinking.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Aphrodite." Federico said to the blonde girl.

She smiled, "Yeah, nice to meet you too." Claudia whispered something in her ear and they both laughed.

"Something tells me I shouldn't wonder what they said." Petruccio mumbled in his big brother's ear.

Federico nodded then his mother asked, "Where is your brother?"

"You mean Ezio? He's out with his lady friends," her oldest son sniggered.

Maria shook her head, "That boy. He reminds me of you, Giovanni," she said to her husband, "Before you settled down with me." She kissed Giovanni's cheek and continued, "I wonder when our boys will settle down." She flashed Federico a smile as if to tell him that he was also being addressed in her speech.

Giovanni let out a hearty laugh. "They're still so young, amore! Let them live a little!"

Aphrodite scoffed and Claudia whispered something else to her. The girls kept giggling the whole dinner and when it was over and they were in Claudia's room with the door shut. One could only wonder what they spoke of. However, they were two teenage girls –like I said, _one could only wonder_.

* * *

Ezio _eventually_ came home at a very late hour. He was sneaking quietly into the house when he was suddenly tackled. He then heard unmistakable laughing. He pushed his attacker off of him and saw a very amused Petruccio still laughing at him for being caught so easily. "Yes, keep laughing," he murmured sarcastically, "What are you doing up at this hour, Petruccio?" he asked the boy.

"I was waiting for you!" he exclaimed mischievously. "You haven't met Aphrodite yet!"

"And I should meet her?" Ezio began leaving.

"Where are you going?" Petruccio said. "She's in Claudia's room! They've been up all night talking about nonsensical things."

"You _know_ what they were talking about?" Ezio sounded surprised –like his brother had done the impossible feats of legends.

The younger brother shook his head, "No, their voices were too low but I know they're awake."

Ezio ruffled his brother's hair then yawned. "I'm tired, brother. I'll be surprised by her in the morning." He smiled and added, "Make sure you take your medicine and go to bed, young man." With that, he retreated upstairs and went to bed.

* * *

_"Awaken, Assassin for today is your day."_

_ It was a whisper but I heard it loud and clear. Who was this person speaking to me? Why did she call me "Assassin"? I was just a normal Italian nobleman._

_ The voice was louder this time when it spoke so I knew it was a woman –no, several women. "The tides have turned against you. You must soon choose your fate –sooner than you assumed. Will it be vengeance or honor?" She/They said._

_ "Pray, tell me who is speaking to me, donna?"_

_ She seemed to ignore me and continue speaking, "I must leave you now, Assassin. Remember, people must die in this war and you cannot prevent every one so accept them courageously."_

_ "Please, explain!" I shouted. I realized my eyes were closed and I opened them. I was in my bedroom. The woman was standing –hovering before me. She was beautiful. She reminded me of someone I had seen before; perhaps one of the many women I had been with. No, she seemed too regal. Someone else –_

_ She smiled at me then began to fade._

Ezio sat up in his bed, "Wait!" he shouted. He was breathing heavily and had such pain in his head that he had never experienced before. He threw his sheets off and looked around the room. His open window made his bare chest freeze so he hastily put on a shirt before resuming the search for the mysterious lady.

"Aphrodite, wait –" he heard his sister's muffled voice coming closer, and then his door slammed open. A blonde girl around his age marched in with her hands to her hips. It must've been the girl his father was speaking to and Petruccio wanted him to meet –Aphrodite.

"Alright, are you the idiot that woke me up?" she exclaimed. She certainly had a mean air to her. Perhaps she wasn't a morning person. Unfortunately for her, Ezio wasn't feeling like a morning person either at the moment.

"Get out of my room! You're giving me a headache! Stupid girl!" he snapped at her and put his two pillows over his ears.

She scowled and shot back, "Well, at least you don't get a migraine every fucking day!"

"Oh, and you do?" Ezio grumbled. He _really_ wanted her to go away.

She noted to herself that she had been exaggerating and replied more quietly than she had been speaking originally, "As a matter of fact, yes, but I guess in your case, it's probably a hang-over." She suddenly became aware of her audience from six centuries ago and sighed. "A headache from drinking way too much," she explained with an eye roll.

"I haven't been drinking," Ezio grumbled. "So what're the other options, _doctor_?"

"You may be listening to your iPod too loud or you could be on drugs," she said sarcastically, "And you could be going blind."

"Any others?" he groaned, not even bothering to ask what an iPod was.

"No." she said more quietly than Ezio had expected and walked out of the room. Her hands dropped limply to her side and as he watched her, he thought that something must've been amiss with her.

"Ezio," Claudia said in an irritated tone, "it is not like you to shout at people for something so trivial –let alone a woman!" She sat beside her brother on the bed. "You listened to my problems. Now, I would like it if you told me why you're so angry this morning. It can't just be this headache of yours."

Ezio glanced at her. She looked really concerned with her brow furrowed and her lips tight. He sighed and shook his head –which caused the pain in his head to worsen. He cried out and grabbed his sister's hand just to have something to squeeze. She forcefully pulled her hand out of his tight grasp and draped it around his shoulders to comfort him. "Maybe mother will have something for that, Ezio. Come on. Get up," the younger sister said and helped Ezio to his feet.

* * *

"Don't you look lovely!" Eva exclaimed once Stevie Rae was all dressed up.

Stevie Rae looked in the mirror and it took every ounce of her modesty not to agree with the older woman. She did look _amazing_! She never thought she'd actually think that about herself. Sure, she always thought of herself as _good-looking_ but pushing it seemed shallow to her. "I just hope this event is worth it." Stevie Rae said and twirled in her pretty dress.

"Well, Ser Rodrigo usually doesn't take any _female_ companions to the events he goes to. It _must _be special." Eva said with a twinkle in her eye. "You should be so honored to be invited by him!"

"But what if he –" Stevie Rae hesitated. She didn't even _want_ to think about the possibility that Rodrigo wanted her as a wife or whatever (apparently, she was of marriageable age).

"Oh, sweetheart!" the maid said happily, "If he _does_ want your hand in marriage, you should be _honored_!" And there she goes with that "_honored_" stuff. She continued, "He's wealthy, of high stature and he's a _Spaniard_!" she said it like it was an amazing thing. Hm, and Spaniards were better than everybody else? She obviously didn't know that Stevie Rae liked _normal_, American guys who were cute, quarterbacks and maybe… _her age_!

"Hmm," Eva pondered, "I can see why you wouldn't want to." Ah, so she's _not_ insane. "But he could offer you so much!" she added.

With an edgy giggle, Stevie Rae replied, "Well, let's _not_ think about it –I mean, he hasn't actually proposed or whatever and we don't even know if he will!"

Eva cast the fledgling an understanding smile and took her by the hand. "Let's go, Stevie Rae. The master is undoubtedly waiting." And so the awkward topic was dropped…

* * *

Lucy hunched over the screen of the animus. It seemed like Ezio was at home, resting. Federico must've been doing the errands on the day of the arrest. She grew weary all of a sudden. If Federico was out doing things for Giovanni and Ezio was at home, then wouldn't their roles be switched? She glanced at Desmond who seemed to be suffering Ezio's headache as well since he was wincing in pain every now and then. The bartender was still there so Ezio would live, right? Desmond was still living Ezio's memories so Ezio is never executed and he becomes a master assassin. She smiled when she had reassured herself and went back to work on some papers.

* * *

"Ah! My head." Ezio moaned from on his bed.

"Don't be such a child, Ezio!" Claudia said as she put a wet towel on his forehead. She cursed under her breath –getting an angry look from her mother, who was standing in the doorway with a concerned expression –and said, "I have a feeling this isn't as bad as you're making it sound!"

Ezio moaned again. "It is ten times _worse_ than I'm making it sound!" he exclaimed and put his fingers at his temples. "It feels like death!"

Aphrodite, who took a seat by his window giggled at his exaggeration. "Oh! Don't be such a drama queen! I've had worse!" She had eventually returned to Ezio's bedroom after finding nothing to do in the Auditores' big house (or maybe remembering that TV's hadn't been invented yet).

"Aphrodite," Maria interrupted the vampyre's laughing. "I was wondering if you could go to the doctor with Ezio. Maybe a professional will have something for this big _baby_ of mine." She smirked and took a seat at her son's side to pat his cheek lightly.

"Mother!" Ezio exclaimed at his mother's comment in embarrassment. "I am not a baby!"

"Hm. I think I could take your baby to the doctor, Mrs. A." Aphrodite replied enthusiastically and crouched next to the bed like a grownup prompting a three year old. "C'mon, Mama's boy, let's get you to a doctor."

* * *

Claudia hummed while she helped Annetta set the table for dinner. Ezio and Aphrodite hadn't returned yet but Federico had. He bounded into the kitchen happily and embraced his sister from behind. "Claudia! How are you today?"

"Federico," she acknowledged, "you never greet me with this much enthusiasm unless you want me to do something for you or if you find a suitor for me –and I've repeatedly said, I don't want one!" She put down the silverware she was holding and escaped from her brother's embrace.

He laughed, "No, sister, I went to church today."

"Oh, really? Since when are you the good Christian?" she asked skeptically.

He simply laughed again and said, "The preacher told us that we must take care of our sisters for they are precious! So I thought I'd start looking after you more because Ezio has been hogging you lately."

She scoffed and went back to the table, "Well –"

Claudia never finished her sentence because it was cut short by loud banging on their door. Then a man shouted, "Giovanni Auditore, open this door or we'll force our way in!"

"What's going on?" Annetta breathed and stood beside the brother and sister as if their closeness would grant her protection.

"Stay here!" Federico instructed the girls then went to the door. He opened it cautiously and guards began pouring in. "What do you want?" he asked, trying to make his voice heard over the thousands of footfalls.

The man who seemed to be their leader replied gruffly, "Giovanni, Federico, Ezio and Petruccio Auditore, you are all under arrest for treason!"

"What treason?" Federico exclaimed, outraged.

* * *

**_Ahhh don't you just love FedericoXClaudia... as siblings ._. you know I meant that, right?_**

**_Haha anyways, as everyone knows... as much as I want to, I do not own House of Night or Assassin's Creed... I wish I did, but I don't_**


	7. Avoiding the Inevitable

_**Dayyum.. D: I almost cried while writing this... POOR MARIA!**_

* * *

"Who do you think took it?" Damien said thoughtfully. "I mean, I don't see what _anyone_ would want with Aphrodite's diary."

Zoey put a mouthful of cereal in her mouth then shrugged, "Ish prby nh f'ditysh gonsh."

"Okay, Z," Erin giggled, "swallow –_then_ speak."

Zoey forcefully swallowed the bite she had been chewing then repeated. "It's probably one of Aphrodite's goons. I don't know why but I have a feeling that vision girl and her posse have been keeping something big from us."

"Girl, that doesn't make sense." Shaunee said and picked at her own cereal. "They want to help Aphrodite wake up. They're _with_ us! Why'd they wanna ruin Aphrodite's chances of waking up?"

"Maybe they don't like her after all and couldn't care less about Stevie Rae." Zoey murmured and shoved another bite into her mouth.

Damien shrugged. "You know, Zoey's got a point. Who else would take it anyways? Apart from Aphrodite's friends, the majority of the fledglings _like_ Stevie Rae."

"You know who had a bone to pick with both Aphrodite _and_ Stevie Rae and didn't care who knew?" Erin asked and before she got a response, she answered herself, "Kate Moore."

"Omigod, Twin! I was just about to say that!" Shaunee exclaimed. "Kate didn't like either of them so maybe she just might be evil enough to not want them to wake up at all!"

"Yeah!" Erin said, "I mean, who's evil enough to _not_ like Stevie Rae?"

Damien laughed, "You know, that _is_ true," he agreed, "But what are we gonna do about it?"

"Well," Zoey said. "I think I can get Kate's roommate, Shannoncompton, to do some snooping around for us." She suggested.

"Awesome! But if it's not her, we're gonna need some more suspects. So Damien, look into it." Erin ordered, smiling smugly and liking her position as the boss for once in her life.

He nodded, "But, now that I think about it, what are the vamps _doing_ while there's all this stealing? I mean, aren't they supposed to be reading the students' minds if they steal something and get it back?"

Zoey thought about it then nodded, "What happened to all that security crap they told us about at the beginning of the year? And 'Don't worry about your rooms being all insecure; we got it covered' Covered, my foot," she said, refusing to say "ass" because that was a _bad_ word.

* * *

Claudia began sobbing into Annetta's shoulder when she began to hear struggling. "Federico! No!" she cried out, fearing for his safety –and her father and Petruccio –oh, Petruccio! He was just a boy! She felt Annetta put a comforting arm on over her back –or was she trying to comfort herself.

When Maria heard the outburst, she was in her own room praying for Giovanni's safety as he had foreseen that very event. She finished the prayer as she rose and rushed to the one person she could reach –her youngest son. He was writing –as was his hobby –or he was _before_ because when his mother walked in, he was at his feet and hurrying to the door to see what the commotion was about.

"Petruccio! Stay in your room!" she whispered and pushed him back in. "They're after you! I won't let them get you!"

He looked at her with surprise. He had heard his own voice being spoken by the intruders but he didn't know why. He merely shook his head. "Mother, I won't endanger you!" he spoke up nobly –_if only his nobility wasn't endangering him, _the mother thought and scuttled to hold her son close to her.

She cried into his inky black hair. "I won't lose you, as well, Petruccio! You father will get them all. You'll see." She tried to keep her voice even but it kept breaking. She had never been so happy that Ezio was out of the house. He would be away from the guards for a while. However, she did also think that if Ezio had been there, he would've helped fend the men off –even if it were for a bit.

She felt someone gruffly seize her middle. The only thing on her mind was that they were taking her away from her son. "No!" she shrieked. "Let go, you bastard! Leave us be!"

"You would do well to shut your mouth, woman!" a man spat acidly at her and pulled her completely away from Petruccio who was being dragged away by a different man.

She struggled her way out of the man's grasp and slapped him across his face. She took the time he was standing before her like a surprised buffoon to go search for her husband. He'd know what to do. He always did. When she had gone downstairs, she found a cluster of guards holding Federico and her beloved Giovanni.

She shook her head in disbelief and saw her husband look down sadly. "I'm so sorry, Amore. There's nothing that can be done."

"Be quiet, bastardo!" one of the men clutching him said and hit him in the head with the butt of his blade.

"You, woman, how dare you strike a city guard?" the man from before exclaimed and pulled Maria back by her hair, knocking her to the ground. He then spat at the ground beside her and murmured, "_Puttana_."

"That is my _mother_, asshole!" the oldest son roared and began to fidget in his captor's hold, who did the same as his cohort did to the boy's father.

Claudia cried out as if she was feeling all of their pain –physically and emotionally. Annette covered the teenager's eyes from what she saw, even though there was nothing left to see. The house cleaner didn't want to see either so she dug her own face into the wall beside her.

"The boy, Ezio Auditore, is not here. We'll be back!" the man, who seemed to be the captain of the others, snarled. The men left as swiftly and noisily as they came in, taking Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio with them.

* * *

"I wonder what my loyal subjects are doing while I'm here in this –I don't even have a clever name for it." Aphrodite muttered to herself as she and Ezio walked the streets of Florence.

Ezio heard her statement and growled, "Florence is a beautiful town –and what do you mean by loyal subjects? You're not a queen, are you? I doubt you are." He kicked a pebble on the road and it hit the ankle of a man, causing him to stumble, drop the large box he was holding and curse loudly at whoever caused it.

Aphrodite resisted the urge to laugh at the poor man –she was in her Nelson-from-the-Simpsons mood –then smirked at her companion, "I'm not a queen –well, I am, sort of but what I mean by loyal subjects are the students of my school who I rule with my indubitable beauty and wisdom."

"Wisdom my –" he muttered the rest in Italian. Aphrodite didn't know what he said but she punched him in the shoulder anyways.

She looked away from the boy who was gripping his shoulder in pain when she noticed the Auditore estate in front of them. "Home sweet home," she muttered. He grunted in response. So he agreed in male language? Maybe? She shrugged and they both walked into the house.

"Father?" Ezio called out. "Federico!" He was surprised when he got no answer and even more so when he was almost hit in the head with a porcelain vase by Annetta but he dodged it flexibly.

"What happened here?" Aphrodite murmured when she noticed the overall darkness of the place.

Annetta took in a breath when she realized who she had almost hit. "Ser Ezio! Thank God!" she gasped with relief.

"What happened? Where is everyone?" Ezio demanded, shocked by Annetta's strange actions.

"They took your father and brothers to the Palazzo de la Signoria!" she exclaimed anxiously. "To _prison_!" she added quietly and put her shaking hands together to calm herself.

"My mother! My sister!"

Annetta was about to answer but then nodded to the right. "Ezio!" Claudia's voice called out. Ezio ran towards her, "Claudia!" and embraced her, warmly, happy that she wasn't taken as well and that she wasn't injured. Claudia was so overjoyed to see her brother that she hadn't spared a glance at Aphrodite who was still standing by the door, watching. Not that Aphrodite particularly minded. She wasn't stupid; she knew it was a tender moment.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, but mother," she trailed off and looked at her mother who was staring off into space. She looked dismal.

Annetta felt like crying as she continued speaking. "She's in shock," she managed. "They –when she resisted –sh –"

"It's not safe here," Ezio deduced. "Is there somewhere you can take them?" he asked. As he spoke, he wasn't thinking very clearly but clearly enough to ensure his mother and sister's safety.

"Yes," Annetta began –then more confidently she exclaimed, "Yes! To my sister's!

"Good," he proclaimed and let his sister run off to Annetta's comforting arms. "In the meantime, I'll go see my father."

"Be careful, Messer Ezio," the chambermaid warned the teenaged boy grimly, "the guards were looking for you as well."

"Which way?" Aphrodite said as Ezio made his way towards her.

He sighed and mumbled, "Follow Annetta. She'll show you."

He began walking towards the street when he felt a small hand tug on his sleeve. He turned his face and found himself looking into Aphrodite's blue eyes. "I'm coming with you, Ezio. So tell me which way to go."

Ezio yanked his arm out of her grip. "No, Aphrodite, it's too dangerous! You'll stay with the women."

Aphrodite was taken aback. Nobody usually spoke to her like that. _Nobody_ who knew what was good for them. She regained her poise and retorted, "Is that worry I hear, Auditore?" She smirked at him.

He rolled his eyes at the petite blonde and responded with "No, I just don't want to have someone like you slowing me down."

She grinned at him. "Fine then, Ezio, go out into the big bad world alone. See if I care."

She heard him mutter, "Yeah, yeah" and saw him waving a hand back at her as he walked away, leaving her alone in the small patio of the Auditore villa.

Annetta came to Aphrodite and put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Let's go, Aphrodite."

Aphrodite turned around and saw Claudia approaching with a dazed Maria at her side. She sighed and looked back at the direction in which Ezio had gone. That boy had better come back alive. She probably wouldn't be there to see but he just had to. She trusted him to get out alive. He always did.

* * *

"Professor Neferet," a brunette fledgling walked into the headmistress's office and handed her a shabby notebook. "I got it for you, now what do I get?"

The redheaded professor snatched the book and smiled, "You're excused from homework for a month. How does that sound?" she replied sweetly.

Kate grinned, "It sounds sweet. But why do you need this thing, anyways. I read it. It's a load of bullshit."

Neferet's smile faltered for a moment then she smirked not so friendlily, "That's none of your business, fledgling. Now leave me."

Kate shrugged and did what she was told. She didn't know what Neferet was up to with that piece of trash and she had no business to. Yet, she still found it very fishy and had it been without charge, she wouldn't have stolen the diary to begin with.

* * *

After Ezio's talk with his father, he headed off immediately to his house, hidden from the patrollers by the night. He slowed his run to a pace slower than a walk when he arrived. He touched the door to what was his home. After speaking with his father, he had a feeling his life wouldn't be the same again –damn the Pazzi! It was entirely their fault.

He sighed and went inside. The home obviously hadn't changed since he left it. It made him sad just to see the empty home that was usually so full of life. He looked at the bookcase with its books strewn all over the ground. That was where he'd usually find Petruccio.

He knew what talent his father was talking about when he told him to find the hidden door in his office –it was his eagle vision. He found the hidden door behind a wall at the side of the office. He opened it and entered the secret room. Once he had located the chest his father spoke of, he put on the strange armor within it and took out the letter he would have to send to Uberto Alberti.

* * *

Aphrodite sat down on a couch with her eyes closed. She wasn't asleep because she wasn't tired but she was trying to find out what to do. Minerva wanted her to train Stevie Rae in "the ways of the Assassin" or whatever and Aphrodite wasn't trained in the "ways" herself! She couldn't even do a handstand and not fall over. Although, from playing the game, she saw all the things Ezio could do –from jumping on rooftops to _killing_ people. She couldn't do that; at least, she didn't think so. It seemed to be a secret message to the assassins of the world. She doubted her own sanity when she thought about it. It was silly, yes but who would've guessed. She had to admit that it _was_ clever in a way.

While Aphrodite wallowed in her thoughts, a group of courtesans had gathered around Claudia to hear her story. Every time the young girl let out a sob, the other girls would gasp and frown sympathetically. Eventually, she pushed them all away and went to her mother's side.

Maria was upstairs, looking out the window. Claudia didn't know what to make of her mother's face. It was inanimate and expressionless. She seemed to be completely calm as the wind blew through her disheveled hair. "Claudia," the old woman finally said in a toneless whisper. "Your father will get them out of this; Ezio as well. Don't worry."

Claudia smiled. She knew her mother wasn't reassuring her, though. Maria was trying to reassure herself. The teen went to stand beside her mother and put an arm around her. The two of them spent the rest of the night like that –or what was left of it –waiting for Ezio's safe return and hopefully, the rest of the Auditore men along with him.

* * *

_**Aaand there you go! Chapter7... **_

_**Federico: :3 and she owns neither Assassin's Creed nor House of Night -only her sick twisted mind!**_

_**... thank you, Federico *pats* I'm sorry that you're gonna die in chapter 8**_

_**Federico: What? D:**_

_**:/ nothing...  
**_


	8. His Purpose in Life

"You, _French_ girl, are you ready?" Stevie Rae and Eva heard Rodrigo call from afar (Stevie Rae still found it funny that he thought she was French but America hadn't been discovered yet, right?) Then he walked into the room. He looked Stevie Rae up and down then nodded. "Then let's get going."

Stevie Rae curtsied as she saw it fit. Rodrigo merely smirked. He then grabbed her wrist and led her outside. Normally, she would've screamed the crap out of him but apparently, girls in this time period were to be seen and not heard and Stevie Rae didn't wanna stick out like a sore thumb among all these noblemen and women.

She was surprised when she realized they would have to go to this event of Rodrigo's on foot rather than in a carriage. She didn't complain though, since it was best that she didn't act like an expert on what seemed to be the Renaissance era.

* * *

The next morning, Ezio Auditore took in every syllable of what was being said to the people and the three alleged traitors –his father and his two brothers. It was all a shock to him. He had never felt so much fear in one moment of his whole entire life. With one pull of that lever beside the executioner, Ezio would witness the execution of half of his heart.

"Giovanni Auditore, you and your accomplices stand accused of the crime of treason. Have you any evidence to counter this charge"

His heart lifted when his father mentioned the proof of his and his family's innocence.

"Yes! The documents that were delivered to you last night!"

"I'm afraid I know nothing of these 'documents'"

_The_ _bastard._

"He's lying!"

"In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I am bound to pronounce you guilty. You and your collaborators are hereby sentenced to _death_"

"You are a traitor, Uberto –and one of _them_! You may take our lives this day but we will have yours if it's the last –_I swear_ –_we will_!"

Uberto –the son of a bitch was enjoying this. They cheered for their death –for the Auditore family's death. He pushed roughly through all the people –the _monsters_. Did they enjoy watching a man's pain played before them like some kind of entertainment?

Then the executioner, dressed in black, pulled the lever, causing the three Auditores to be dropped and hung to death.

"Father!" Ezio cried and ran to the front of the crowd. He wanted to shout the rest of the names but that was all he could muster.

"There! Grab the boy! He's one of them!"

"I'll _kill_ you for what you've done!" he shouted.

"Guards, arrest him!"

Two men grabbed Ezio by his arms and he struggled to get away.

"_Abbattetelo_"

"You'd better run, boy –and fast" he heard a voice say.

He finally escaped from their grasp and began to run for his life, knowing that the guards chasing him wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he slipped into their clutches again.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Stevie Rae asked after a lot of silent walking.

He sighed, "We're going to see an execution."

"A _what_?" she said and sudden fear entered her voice. "No! I get queasy! And I don't believe in the death sentence anyways! I can't watch something like that!"

"You will have to get used to it! I don't know what they do in France but as a man of my standing, it is almost a duty to attend these events. And I do not want to attend alone so I will often bring you!" he snapped at the blonde girl and the last part sounded almost like a confession. He must've been just as horrified as she was at the whole concept perhaps –and maybe there was some good in Rodrigo.

She lowered her head in respect or fear. She didn't like being shouted at but this man was probably really annoyed that she was being so ignorant –she was annoyed at herself as well. "Sorry, sir," she muttered and they continued on their way, without a word. She didn't say anything else –at least he was letting her out of the house to see Florence.

The place the execution was being held looked like a big square. There was a cathedral from one side and many large, _beautiful_ buildings were on the remaining sides of the square with a few shops and stands all around. The center of the square was what unnerved Stevie Rae. It was a large platform. On it was a pole that had three ropes hanging from it. The ropes were tied around the necks of three people that were standing glumly, staring at the crowd that had gathered to watch. One was a man that looked old enough to be her father; the second man was a bit older than the vampyre herself. The third looked not older than thirteen years old. Stevie Rae noticed him silently coughing and frowned. How could they execute someone so young?

She tapped Rodrigo's shoulder. He turned in her direction and saw him smiling. "What do you want?" he asked her quietly as if speaking any louder would ruin the show.

She stuttered, "The boy over there." She pointed to the one she had been feeling sorry for, "Isn't he too young to be killed?"

Rodrigo shrugged and simply said, "He's a traitor as well, isn't he?"

Stevie Rae didn't say anything and waited for the "event" When it began, she heard cheering. She couldn't believe how sadistic people were in the past. A plump man came onto the platform and began speaking to the people. Rodrigo climbed up onto the platform with him and ordered Stevie Rae to stay put.

She was suddenly shoved to the side. She turned her head and saw the culprit -a man in white clothes. He seemed very mysterious –perhaps he was with the people on the platform. She gasped in realization and made sure that nobody heard her. She glanced around at everyone and saw them chatting animatedly with each other. She also noticed that nobody had seen the man in white. When she was sure that nobody was watching her, she began to follow the man clad in white. He gave off a sad aura and Stevie Rae felt that _someone_ needed to be there for him.

She wasn't paying attention to anything around her –just that man. She was close enough to touch him. As she was putting a hand on his shoulder, he shouted "He's lying!" and startled her though nobody seemed to hear him. He was not a man –he was a boy and he sounded angry, sad, betrayed, afraid and confused all at the same time. She stepped back and saw that he was speaking to the fleshy man.

He was too far away and his comment was left unheard. Unfazed by the young, distressed boy, the announcer continued yelling, "In the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary, I am bound to pronounce you guilty. You and your collaborators are hereby sentenced to _death._" He said the last word grimly and it made him sound almost evil.

The oldest convict began bellowing at him, "You are a traitor, Uberto –and one of _them_! You may take our lives this day but we will have yours if it's the last –_I swear_ –_we will_!" If he was going to say anything else, he couldn't because the lever was pulled and all three of the convicts dropped.

Stevie Rae covered her eyes. She heard a heartbreaking voice cry, "Father!" and realized that she had lost the boy she had been following. Fortunately (or not), the man known as Uberto was quick to point him out in the crowd, saying he was "one of them" The boy began to threaten them and ended up with all the guards after him. Oh, he just needed a big hug –poor guy.

Stevie Rae felt someone tug her shoulder. It was an old couple. She noticed that she was very close to the fight when everyone else had backed away. She had also stepped back just in time for the boy to dash off right through the space she had once been standing in. She looked back at the couple and nodded in gratitude.

"There you are!" an annoyed voice said and a more stern hand grabbed her shoulder. It was Rodrigo.

"I just wanted a closer look." Stevie Rae murmured.

"At what?" he asked, "The traitor?"

She bowed her head, "I'm sorry, Ser Rodrigo."

He sighed, "It's fine. Let's get back to the manor. There's nothing to see here." He pulled her along with him as they walked "home"

* * *

Claudia and Maria stood, sleepless by the window. Paola asked them if they wanted to eat or drink several times but the two remained silent and the food was left untouched in a tray on the bed. They never spoke a word until a young courtesan was sent to tell them of the arrival of a tired and lonely Ezio.

Maria had anticipated this. She lowered her head sadly while Claudia greeted him happily. Then the young girl found out about her father and brother. She cried out and Ezio vowed his revenge.

"You're not a killer, but I can make you one." the leader of the courtesans said.

A small but busty little redhead came rushing in. "Claudia! Your annoying friend -she has disappeared. I cannot find her anywhere." She then saw the distress that the Auditore family was in and the tears and muttered, "Maybe this is not a good time." She scuttled nervously away.

Ezio rolled his eyes -he had no tme to worry about Aphrodite who was some girl he had just met the day before and who he found extremely unpleasant. He and Paola left shortly after he had given the important women in his life a promise that the ones they lost that day would be avenged.

* * *

Stevie Rae burst into the maid's quarters in tears. For some reason, it was empty except for two girls around her age who never spoke to her. Their eyes widened when they saw her and immediately rushed out of the room. The blonde watched the door shut behind them then sat down on one of the couches.

What she had just seen was the most horrible thing she had seen since -she didn't even know what. The mean fat man and the poor boy who lost his father. She wondered if he made it out alive or if they got him just like the rest of his family. Rodrigo said that he'd take her to more of those events so she'd have to get used too seeing people have their loved ones executed. The fat man probably wasn't even mean. It was his job…

When she thought of loved ones, she remembered Zoey and the rest of her gang. She missed Erin and Shaunee's bickering. She wished Damien was there telling her a bunch of random facts he knew about wherever she was. She wanted to tell Zoey about everything that happened. She even wanted Aphrodite –if it was even possible to actually want Aphrodite around. She yearned for something familiar to see aside from her own face in the mirror (which she could swear was changing due to all the hard work she had been doing for that bitter old Rodrigo).

She decided then would be a good time to pray to Nyx. She prayed that she would get home soon and everything would be as if she had never left. Or maybe, it could be as if Kate was never Marked and she never stole Shannoncompton's poetry book so Stevie Rae wouldn't need to go to Aphrodite's stupid closet. She prayed that wherever Aphrodite was, she'd come soon. She prayed for something to happen for the better. She also prayed to Nyx for the lonely boy's safety and hoped Nyx was listening then went to sleep on the couch.

Eva passed by in the meantime and smiled warmly at the girl who had fallen asleep in her dress. She walked to the couch and sat beside her. She pulled a damp hair off Stevie Rae's face. Something must've happened with Ser Rodrigo. She frowned and walked away.

Just as Eva had been approaching the door to her room, there was a loud bang on the door. She sighed and yawned. Surely, the master wasn't expecting someone at that hour. It wasn't late but it wasn't early either and Rodrigo happened to be asleep.

She strode quickly to the door so that the knocker wouldn't wake Rodrigo up. She found another young maid (she had been sweeping in the foyer) at the door who seemed to be at a loss for words. Eva took over for her and spoke calmly to the young woman at the door. "What can I do for you, madonna?"

"Have you seen a girl named Stevie Rae around here?"

The older woman hesitated and looked in the direction of the room where Stevie Rae resided. She then nodded. "Yes, right this way."

Light tapping on her shoulder woke Stevie Rae up. She smiled drowsily when she saw her friend, Eva. "Sorry," she slurred, "I forgot my dress on. I'll get it off right away."

It surprised her to see Eva shake her head. "Someone's here to see you."

Stevie Rae raised an eyebrow and finally saw the girl Eva brought with her. She was tall –as in, skyscraper tall and had long black hair. She asked her, rudely (so she was cranky when she woke up) "Who the heck are you?"

* * *

**_Ai'ght, there's chapter eight! :D Haha just a random request... I already have what's going to happen all written down and -_**

**_Aphrodite: To be frank, she updates slowly to torture you :)_**

**_Shu'up! D: Anyways, I want _anyone_ who read this to tell me what they think will happen next because it's fun to know_**

**_Aphrodite: And she wants to kill you slowly with your own anticipation._**

**_I SAID SHU'UP!_**

**_Aphrodite: Make me._**

**_I OWN YOU D:_**

**_Aphrodite: Actually, you don't! House of Night belongs to PC Cast and Assassin's Creed belongs to Ubisoft. All SHE owns is her silly little fangirl ideas. Ha! Imagine... Assassin's Creed and House of Night in a single fanfic... I could barf._**

**_You can stop criticizing me now -.-_**


	9. Odd Company

_**SO SORRY FOR BEING LATE! You must want to kill me now! Well, here's your chapter and please... kill Ezio instead *holds him up like a shield*

* * *

**_

Aphrodite cried out in exasperation. "Fine! Asshole! Sorry for _asking_!"

Yet _another_ shop owner closed his shop window in her face. She was finally looking for Stevie Rae after her "pitstop" -if she could call it that -at the Auditore's house then Paola's brothel.

She grumbled and felt a strong gust of wind blow her hair in her face for the ten millionth time. Walking to another stand, someone rammed into her, knocking her to the ground. "Watch where you're going, effin' clutz!" she blurted and shoved the man off of herself.

He looked at her regretfully then got up and ran, yelping, "Murderor! Don't hurt me!"

She sighed. "You bumped into _me_, jerk!" she screamed, and then another man bumped into her, a flurry of white and brown. "What the hell is up with you people?" she shouted at the man who was now climbing up on a roof. She scrutinized him then gasped in recognition before calling out to him, "Damn you, Auditore!"

Aphrodite covered her lips when she realized her mistake. Guards all around responded to her call and began throwing rocks, shouting, "Get him! He's the traitor!" The vampyre cursed her ignorance and sighed. _Ezio can take care of himself; _she thought and resumed her search.

"Hey, you, _vampyre_!" someone hissed and, knowing that she was most likely the only vampyre in Florence (aside from Stevie Rae who was God knows whrere), she turned in the direction of the hiss which was coming from a shabby looking man, dressed like one of the many theives she had encountered in her short time in Italy (seriously unattractive). He was standing in an alley and waving his hand like crazy. It reminded her of an abnoxious kid in her neighborhood who always wanted her to play.

She hurried towards him and asked him, "How do you know that I'm a vampyre?"

He smirked though it was hard to catch through the dark and dirty stubble on his chin. Then, putting a hand in his pocked casually he said, "I know exactly what you are, Prophetess."

"Yeah, thanks, Sherlock, I got that," Aphrodite said sarcastically, "but _how_ do you know?" Another gust of wind blew and she grumbled when the hair covered her face, "Got a scrunchie?" she murmured, doubting he would have one or even know what a scrunchie was.

He chuckled and sure enough, he pulled out a dirty rubber band from the pocket his hand was in, "It's not much of a scrunchie but it'll do the trick."

"Thanks," she said and took the band to tie her hair back –"Wait?" she gasped, "How the heck do you know what a scrunchie is?"

This got her another chuckle from the man, "You ask many questions, donna." He rubbed his forehead briskly with the back of his hand, revealing a blue crecsent mark –the mark of a… fledgling? He looked _way_ older than eighteen or something.

"You're not a full vamp?" she asked. Was it possible that vamps knew where other vamps were just by –

Suddenly, Aphrodite put a hand to her forehead (_ew, sweat_) and realized, she didn't have her mark covered by anything. Was she seriously prancing around with her mark uncovered? It was no wonder people weren't communicating with her.

The man –boy –whatever –broke into a fit of laughter at Aphrodite's lack of knowledge of the crescent moon on her forehead being seen by half of Florence –okay, maybe not half but a lot of people knew what Aphrodite was now. On the bright side, if they didn't know what the mark meant, they probably thought she was part of a satanic cult or something. Things could've been better right now.

But wait –how come the Auditores didn't mind her mark? Was it because they were vamps, too? Nah. They must've just been very nice people. Maybe they thought it was a prophetess thing. Speaking of prophetess, what had the Goddess made her do when she was all hypnotized and stuff? She shrugged then looked back at the man –boy –whatever. "So? Did you want something from me?"

He showed his rather clean teeth before saying, "I know where you need to go."

Aphrodite grumbled. Why didn't he just get to the point? She blew strand of blonde hair out of her eyes then responded, "And that is where?"

He extended his arm towards the smaller, more fashionable fledgling but she stared at it like it was a creaure from Mars. He chuckled then returned his arm. "Follow me, _bella_!" he said and began running deeper into the alley and up the wall of a building. Aphrodite rolled her eyes at him and decided that she'd just go around.

* * *

Erik Night was lying on his bed in thought. The House of Night certainly was quieter since Aphrodite fell into her spiritless state. It was unnerving. The reason he loved her was because she gave the House of Night life –even if she was a "bitch" as most people have told him. He sighed. He would have to find out who it was that did this to her and the other third former –Stevie Rae.

He was about to get up when he heard knocking on his door. He hurried up and opened the door. It was none other than Damien Maslin. He was Zoey's gay friend. Of course, Erik had nothing against gay people but he couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious about being alone with him. "Come in," he told Damien confidently, "Did you want something from me?"

Damien nodded and walked in uneasily. He found Erik attractive –like half of the girls in the House of Night –but he decided now was not the time to be shy. "Listen," he began and took a seat on the tip of one of the beds in the room, "I just wanted to ask if you know about Aphrodite's diary. I mean, did she ever mention it to you?"

"We wouldn't be looking for it if she had," Erik replied gravely and gave a slightly apologetic smile. "Before you ask, I have no idea who could've taken it because I don't know anyone who would need it apart from us –"

"It could be the person who did it to them. Maybe that person doesn't want them waking up. So they don't want us meddling," Damien interrupted. Erik nodded then the other boy continued, "Whoever took it knows it has answers which means we really do need it –but whoever took it knows that without their spirits in their bodies, Stevie Rae and Aphrodite could be like this forever. Their spirits will get lost in wherever they are –that is, _if_ their spirits are gone.

"Whatever the case is, we _need_ to find that diary. Aphrodite was keeping a secret and we need to know what it is and how Stevie Rae fits into the whole thing," Damien concluded and heaved a deep breath. He then stood and made his way towards the door only to have Erik grab him by his forearm.

"Damien," he began. Damien turned his head and looked in curiosity at the sixth former fledgling who hesitated and looked up thoughtfully then said, "What if –" Erik began to mentally smack himself. He didn't know if what he was about to say was logical or completely insane. He paused a bit. If it was a possibility, it had to be said whether it was crazy or not. He spoke more confidently when he told Damien, "What if it's not a fledgling that did this? I mean, this whole time, we've been pointing fingers at random fledglings and not even considering that normal fledglings can't do this –not even the smartest or the most advanced."

Damien shrugged out of Erik's grip and said, "So you think it's one of the professors?" Erik nodded. It was certainly an odd concept but he had a point. No fledgling could take another's spirit out; even some vampyres couldn't do that. "If that's what we're dealing with, then our job just got a lot harder."

* * *

"French girl!"

The voice that came shooting through the doorway like an arrow was unmistakable. Rodrigo.

Stevie Rae looked away from the unfamiliar girl who knew her for some odd reason and pinned her gaze at the door where Ser Rodrigo Borgia came rushing in. He was all dressed up which was odd since she thought at a time like this, he'd be napping or working on some important documents for whatever job he had. Which after all that time, she didn't know. Some maid she was. Not that she was gonna be a maid forever but still.

She tore herself from her thoughts and put her full attention on Rodrigo. "I'm going out to celebrate! You should accompany me! They want to know who the mysterious French beauty I escorted was," he said, chuckling at the end. Stevie Rae mentally gagged. She somehow knew this would not end well. _He's showing me off to his friends!_ She thought with a hint of despair. She blushed when he called her a beauty but seriously, pedo much?

The fledgling sighed. She totally knew she wouldn't get out of this. He owned her until she figured out what to do. Wait a sec… no, he didn't. Though, she owed him for giving her a place to stay.

Rodrigo smiled. He noticed her frown a bit as if debating to herself whether she should agree or not. He held out a purse filled with florins the size of his fist. "I shall allow you to go out with your friends and buy gowns if you just come with me to this one celebration."

Was he begging? And was that the Renaissance way of saying "You're allowed to go shopping"? Whatever it was, Stevie Rae smiled. She'd be able to look for Aphrodite. Of course, Aphrodite must've used her secret, special ways to get florins and was raiding the shopping centers (or whatever they called them in the Renaissance) for all the latest fashions just to blend in.

She was about to sound out her approval when the mysterious girl stepped forward and replied for her, "No. Stevie Rae's coming with me, aren't you, Stevie?" _Stevie? _Stevie Rae thought with disapproval. What kind of nickname was that?

"Since when do you own me?" Stevie Rae retorted, "I can make my own decisions!" The next sentence was directed at Rodrigo. "I'd _love_ to go to your celebration. Come on, Eva. I need you to help me get in something that isn't wrinkled like this dress I'm wearing now."

The girl scowled. "You don't understand! I know where you came from! I know what you are! I can tell you what you need to do! You can't possibly expect to find Aphrodite while you're just sitting around!"

_So this girl knew?_ Stevie Rae paused for a moment then replied, "I'll find her in my own way." The fledgling didn't really know how she'd find Aphrodite but that tall girl was getting irritating and her new lifestyle was growing on her. She almost didn't want to leave. She brushed past the girl and out of the servants' quarters with Eva at her tail.

"Darling, Stevie Rae," Eva said when they were alone in the closet, "Maybe you should've listened to that girl. Are you sure you want to stay here with Rodrigo?"

Stevie Rae sighed. She racked her brain for an excuse for her actions but found none. It was probably crankiness but still, she was rude with no justification. She shook her head and blurted, "I can't trust her. You don't understand. If you saw what I saw when I was brought here, you'd know that this is something big. There are two sides –Assassins and –whatever the other one was" she paused to make sure Eva was listening and she was. The fledgling could see in those eyes that she could trust her with this stuff even if the maid didn't get any of it, "I don't even know which one she wanted me to side with." The last bit was murmured to herself. She didn't even try to clarify the identity of "she"

"You mean Aphrodite?"

Stevie Rae looked at her in alarm. How did she know who Aphrodite was? Then she recalled the conversation from before. The dark haired girl mentioned Aphrodite. Speaking of, what had happened to her? She was probably escorted out by Rodrigo or another maid. "No," she finally responded to the waiting chambermaid, "Aphrodite is," she paused, "another French girl."

Eva nodded and cleverly decided not to press any further. She then disappeared between the dresses. "Let's find you something fit for a celebration!" she called out.

* * *

A scruffy fledgling boy waited a while for Aphrodite to catch up with him in the cathedral square. Maybe he shouldn't have run off like that. He should've expected her to be untrained as an assassin. He was surprised that she knew around Florence, though. He thought it would take her longer to find him –then again, a _blind_ man wouldn't get lost finding the cathedral square.

"Way to just run off like that!" Aphrodite came at him, complaining. She seemed like someone who was pampered and not accustomed to getting her hands dirty.

Nonetheless, he ignored that possibility (or was it a fact?) and snapped at her, "I'm _sorry_ you didn't learn to free run properly!" He sighed and said bitterly, "This way. I'll _walk_ this time."

* * *

**_Alright. Aaaall done now..._**

**_By the way... I still don't own Ubisoft or House of Night. Sad, but true._**


	10. The Fatal Bird

_**Um... chapter 10 finally :D PleasekillEzioinstead. I really don't own Assassin's Creed or House of Night. I SWEAR! Oh, and Chromaggia isn't mine either... -flees-**_

* * *

_Tanto tempo fa,_

_Un uccello fatale di nome,_

_Chromaggia_

Stevie Rae stared wide eyed at the woman onstage. She hadn't even thought about what they'd do at the celebration. They were listening to opera. Nobody was asleep. In oh seven, operas were snorefests. The odd thing was that Stevie Rae was not only listening but also listening _intently_.

The song had an eerie feel to it. So did the singer's name –Magdalene. She was English –as the announcer had said –but she looked just as Italian as the rest of the people there with her inky black hair pinned to her head. She was even singing in Italian. Stevie Rae noticed this now that she had caught a few words during her stay –or a lot because for some reason, she now knew a lot of Italian. Oddly enough, she thought she'd prefer listening to Kenny Chesney on her iPod (which she missed dearly) but she didn't.

She glanced at Rodrigo who was mumbling among his friends. It was kind of irritating because she –_unlike some people_ –was actually listening to the music. She sighed and tried to imagine the meaning of the words. It was hard and she wished she were Italian. She lightly shoved Rodrigo's shoulder. "What does it mean?" she asked him.

He turned to the singer who was singing, "_Chromaggia, perché non affronti il pericolo?_"

"She's singing about a fatal bird called Chromaggia and how so many archers are trying to shoot it down but can't," he whispered in her ear. She stared even more mesmerized than before. What a pretty meaning for a song.

* * *

Ezio Auditore da Firenze perched at the edge of a rooftop in Monteriggioni, overlooking all of the people who lived there like a white, majestic bird –a white, majestic bird who had vengance in his heart and a deadly fury that wouldn't go away. He wanted Vieri de Pazzi's life and after him, his father, then their accomplices and then anyone else he could pin his father and brothers' deaths on. He shut his eyes tightly. This wasn't like him. He had never wanted to take someone's life. Okay, sure, he fought all the time with Vieri's flock of sheep but he never wished they'd die.

"Merda, I need to check on Madre and Claudia," he said to nobody in particular after realizing how long he'd been just sitting there. He just needed to sound it out to drown out the sound of the venemous thoughts in his head. They were giving him a headache; not the same one he got the day his family was ambushed but it was almost as bad.

He dropped to the ground, landing on his feet with a thud that startled a few of the passerbys. He began walking in the town slowly. Nobody was after him here. He and his family were safe –for now. He recalled the last time he walked so fearlessly in the streets of Italy. It was when he was going to the doctor with that girl –the blonde one… What was her name? Aphrodite? Oh, right.

She had gone missing the day of the execution. He heaved a sigh when he began occupying his mind with where she could've possibly gone. She had no family in Florence; nor did she have a sense of direction. What could she have been looking for? Or should he say who? He shrugged.

For some reason, Ezio found himself walking in the direction of a man sitting on the ground with parchment in one hand and a quill in the other hand. He was drawing furiously and the young boy felt curious to see what inspiration was causing the man to move his hands so quickly.

The aged man didn't seem to notice the adolescent coming for he continued his sketching. Ezio was right next to the man and he didn't move his head an inch so Ezio thought it was alright to take just a quick peek at his picture. He winced when he saw the long black pen strokes covering the paper. With more scrutinizing , he deduced that the photo was of a girl –not a fully clothed one if you know what I mean, but there weren't any details. He inky hair was flying about her and she held something small in her hand. Something cylindrical –a candle? But what caught his attention the most about it were the inricate markings all over her body which seemed to originate from a crescent moon on her forehead. Something about it was familiar but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen that before.

* * *

Rebecca yawned and looked at the picture Ezio was so attracted to. It was a naked girl. She should've expected much from the Italian playboy. She sighed and looked at Shaun who was typing away at his own computer. "Hey, Shaun, don't get carried away," she teased drowsily.

Shaun didn't seem to catch on or notice her comment. He shot a glance back at the two women at the opposite side of the room. "Girls, I've got a question for you."

"Shoot," Rebecca answered for the both of them, rocking on her seat from boredom and feeling pleased with the conversation because everything had been silent for a while.

"Do you believe in vampyres?"

Lucy was the first to respond. "Not really. What about you?" She took it as a casual question, not knowing that Shaun had way more up his sleeve.

Not even allowing Rebecca her chance to answer (and receiving an annoyed "Hey!"), he replied, "Well, you'd better because I think I know exactly who –or should I say _what_ that prophetess is."

* * *

Aphrodite rolled her eyes at her companion's immaturity then told him, "If we're gonna be travelling buddies, I should probably know your name." It was more of a question than a statement.

"Carlos," he remarked simply then said, "Don't bother introducing yourself, Aphrodite. I'm quite acquainted with you."

"Glad to hear that," she muttered sarcastically. "So where to, _Carlos_?"

"We need to get to the Assassin's bureau in Damascus," he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and Aphrodite almost felt stupid for not knowing.

She nodded then inquired suddenly, "Wait. Seriously? I heard that the bureau was closed down. Is it still up and running? I mean it's been four hundred years since the last game," she murmured the last bit because it sounded more ridiculous outloud than it did in her head.

Carlos shrugged then nodded, "Well, not completely. Only the vampyre's are using it. It's sort of a House of Night now. And it's very far so we should get going," he paused, "North."

"Well look who did his geography homework," Aphrodite grumbled. She was annoyed in case any of you didn't notice. She also deeply regretted leaving in the middle of the night but she didn't want to be there when Claudia and Maria got the news of Giovanni, Federico and Petruccio's deaths. It was going to be a sobfest and she knew. However, it wouldn't have hurt if she got a few hours of sleep. She drowsily followed Carlos through Florence, hoping she didn't look stupid with her odd mark, blonde hair and hazy strides.

* * *

Stevie Rae didn't look at Rodrigo on their way home –if she could call it that. Anyways, she felt awkward walking beside that man. Even worse, she couldn't get that silly blush off of her face. She didn't even want to think about him. Stupid old man. As some may have guessed, the reason for her irritation was because Rodrigo had proposed. Yes. Ew. Well, not _really_ proposed. He wanted her to be his mistress. Double ew. His _second_ mistress. _Triple_ ew. Stevie Rae found him father-figure-ish –in some twisted way –and it was seriously awkward since he was not attractive in _any_ way. Of course, the vampyre fledgling had rejected him. Now she didn't know how to meet eyes with the older man.

As some might predict, Rodrigo was more than a bit pissed off at rejection. She had humiliated him in front of his colleagues. What had gone wrong? He could've sworn when he brought her to all the important events and that opera that she'd agree! He showered her with special attention. _All _the other servant girls had noticed. He was sure she would say yes. He tried looking her in the eyes but she kept looking at the blank walls at the other side. He sighed and decided he would discuss her reasons and his when they returned to his house.

* * *

Aphrodite panted when they got to the city gates –_finally_. She grabbed Carlos's shoulder and groaned, "No more walking! I'm fucking tired!"

Carlos rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Don't worry, _your majesty_. We're almost there. We're gonna be riding a horse the rest of the way."

Suddenly, Aphrodite screamed so loud that people chatting and doing errands stopped to look at her. "You mean we're gonna ride stinky, dirty and unattractive horses! Oh my God! I can't ride one of those! It's so" she let out a shrill shriek. "I'm already unattractive right now! You want to make it worse? I'm also going to be worried that I'll fall off the whole time! Worring will get me wrinkles! Do you seriously think that I'll go through with –"

"Aphrodite!" Carlos shouted at the whining girl, "We've got no money! What are we supposed to do? Walk some more?"

That shut the queen of mean up. She shook her head meekly and murmured, "No." She glanced at the small stable and saw one of the beasts eying her with irritation. It was as if it knew that Aphrodite had just been calling it dirty and ugly.

Carlos sighed in annoyance at the fledgling who was acting like a five year-old. "Come on, Aphrodite. It's this way." He started walking towards the horses. He petted a white speckled brown horse. "This is Vite," he introduced the horse to Aphrodite, "and we'll be riding her."

Aphrodite's eyes widened and began stuttering, appalled, "So we don't get –like –different horses? I have to ride with you! But –but –but what if _you're_ stinky too? I'll bet you smell all sweaty and you haven't bathed in weeks probably so –"

Carlos shouted her name again in anger. "Would you rather we ran out of money and couldn't eat and drink, you spoiled _brat_!"

She was silenced again and looked down. After a moment of awkward quietness she mumbled, "Well, who rides at the front?"

He smirked and picked Aphrodite up. She had been scolded enough to know she probably shouldn't complain. He placed her on the speckled mare then mounted behind her. "Does that answer your question?" She nodded quietly. He put his arms around her to grab the reigns. Aphrodite wanted to gag because he was practically hugging her and both he _and _Vite needed baths.

They began riding away from the town. It was boresome and the bouncing of the horse was lulling her to sleep. Eventually, Aphrodite fell asleep, clutching the horse's neck like a pillow and got the long, _almost_ statisfying rest she had been craving since she parted with the Auditores.

* * *

Stevie Rae entered Rodrigo's abode, still slightly freaked out. There was no such thing as pedophiles in this time, right? She grumbled or maybe she was an adult now. She ruffled her blonde hair and rushed to discuss this with her newest best friend, Eva, but she desperately wished she had Zoey, the Twins and Damien to talk with. She was all alone.

Eva came to her immediately with a troubled look on her face. "Stevie Rae, are you alright? You seem worried."

The fledgling looked at the older woman and embraced her tightly. All her pent up anger, confusion and sadness all came out on Eva's shoulder. "I want to go home, Eva. I want Z and Erin and Shaunee and Damien. I want to see Professor Loren and Neferet and Terrible, Warlike and Wasp. I want to gossip about Erik Night and watch Star Wars. I want to eat cereal again and soda. I want my iPod and my phone. I want my mama and my daddy and my brothers! I even want Aphrodite! I want my car and my house."

Eva had no idea what most of the things, which the young girl was crying about, were but she held her gently and allowed her to let it all out. She sighed and rubbed small comforting circles in her back while mumbling, "It'll all be alright, darling."

Stevie Rae pulled away and nodded. She sniffled and sat on a chair. "I don't want to be his little sex slave, Eva."

So that was what brought on all her sobbing. _Well, that was a strange way to put it, _she thought. "Sweetheart," she began slowly, forming the words as she went along, "You _did_ agree to work for him. Darling, it can't be that bad." Stevie Rae gave her a pointed look. The maid nodded and called out, "Emma!"

The brown-haired girl from before, whose name Stevie Rae now knew to be Emma, came into view. She didn't leave. Was she waiting for Stevie Rae that whole time? "So, Priestesss, have you changed your mind about coming with me?"

Stevie Rae contemplated for a moment. How was _she_ priestess? Shouldn't that be Aphrodite? Or was that what Aphrodite meant to teach her? If so, then why wasn't Zoey chosen? Stevie Rae thought that Zoey was the one who was the most suited and capable for something like that. Or, no, it was like Minerva said. The House of Night probably needed Zoey now so Stevie Rae was just a messenger because she'd have to send the message to Z. Then a thought came to her. Why wasn't Neferet, the High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night here to teach 'em? She decided to voice her notion.

Emma began laughing hysterically. "Oh my God! Neferet? You're kidding, right?" Stevie Rae's face was unchanging. The other girl sobered. "You're serious, aren't you? Wow. You've been here for –what? –a week or more and you're still clueless about everything. You_need_ to come with me. You _must_ be clueless if you're living _here_."

This confused Stevie Rae more. What was wrong with Neferet and Rodrigo? She frowned. This girl was against two people she trusted (_somewhat _trusted in Rodrigo's case). How did she expect Stevie Rae to believe her? It was the crescent mark on Emma's forehead that won Stevie Rae over. She was a fledgling too.

"So, are you coming?"

Stevie Rae bit her lip then nodded. "I think so." _Anything_ was better than just _waiting _for something to happen.

A smile crept onto Emma's face. "We've got a _long_ way to go, Priestess." Stevie Rae didn't smile back. She was still hesitant but she was ready.

* * *

It was surreal fighting his uncle who he hadn't seen for a while. Ezio finally knocked the old man down then rushed back to help him up. Mario was chuckling. "That was a good fight, Ezio. You remind me so much of your father."

Ezio's heart skipped a beat at the mention of his recently deceased father. It had only been a few weeks ago and he had begun training to defeat the Pazzi and that _traitor_ Uberto for causing his father's death and take his revenge. He wasn't nearly as skilled as he needed to be –at least, that's what Mario told him. His uncle told him that he wanted him to fight in a war with the rest of his accomplices. It was the last thing Ezio wanted to do. He'd put the last members of his family in danger if he got any more notorious than he already was. He would never to that to Claudia and his mother. He only trained to be capable enough to defend his family.

Uberto, Vieri and Francesco had better watch out. Ezio was stronger, more skilled and out for retribution.

* * *

_Tirando la freccia,_

_Altri son ferriti per mia colpa,_

_Mia colpa…_

* * *

_**Ah, I suppose this quenches your thirst? By the way, that review button is lonely ;)**_

* * *

**_**Oh! Quick note! I just realized that (due to lack of proper research) I screwed up this chapter. It's just lots of historical crap and I'm not one for history hehe ^^' soo I'll fix any glaring mistakes... As for Rodrigo's children... I suppose they're just in Rome :D mwahaha _**

**_Umm.. so yeah xD_**

**_Grammar mistakes here too -.- I killed myself editing it..._**


	11. Retribution

_**Well... I updated 8D**_

_**Okay put away all your hidden blades -.- I had exams and that's my excuse... but no more waiting :D I have 3 other chapters written right now but I'm not gonna upload em all at once :/ they're in the editing phase... whu'ever. By the way ;) I speak Arabic. Totally cool, right mwahaha ;D I'm just happy because Altair is one of the only hawt video game characters who is perfectly Halal (as in I'm allowed) to marry xD *sighs***_

* * *

Stevie Rae and Emma's trip was mostly quiet. Stevie Rae didn't ask questions and she doubted Emma would answer if she did. It was risky. She didn't trust Emma. She didn't trust her mostly because she called her _Priestess_. It was strange. She also didn't trust the fact that Emma hadn't even promised an explanation. She just demanded Stevie Rae to come with her. _So why?_ Stevie Rae asked herself. Why did she put her trust in a girl that was taking her God knows where for God knows why?

The two girls had hired a carriage to take them to Damascus. Emma felt a bit guilty for the Red One's troubled expression –okay she wasn't a Red One yet but still… She needed to tell Stevie Rae what was going on eventually and it was completely evident that the blonde Okie was having doubts and regrets about coming along. It wasn't that she couldn't trust Stevie Rae; no, quite the contrary. Emma trusted her with her life but it was the carriage driver she didn't trust. The sooner they got to Syria, the better.

* * *

"Shitshitshitshitshit," Erin repeated over and over again. She paced back and forth in the girls' dorm recreational room. Shaunee was at her heels doing the exact same thing.

Damien shrugged and said, "Well, we're not exactly sure yet but Erik and I do have a hunch that this is something we might not be able to handle."

"Alright, stop," Zoey said, trying to put what he said together, "You're saying, a being stronger than any fledgling or even vampyre is after Stevie Rae and Aphrodite? I mean, I understand why something big and nasty would be out to get _Aphrodite_ but what in the _world_ would wanna kill Stevie Rae?" She put her face into her hands and collapsed not so gracefully onto a bean bag. She sighed and slid her hands down her face and into her lap. "This is just absolute _bullpoopie_! How are we gonna save them if we can't even stop the thing that's out to get them?"

"Um, guys?" a small voice interrupted. They all looked around and saw Kate looking extremely small and feeble in front of them. "I have to tell you something."

"_Do_ tell," Erin told the brunette. She stopped her pacing and took a seat on the ground beside Zoey. Shaunee did the same but she wasn't in the talking mood. The fourth member of their group, Damien, simply looked at her in anticipation.

"Well," she began nervously and fiddled with the sleeve of her school jacket, "I'm n-not sure but I might know somone who might have something to do with Aphrodie and Stevie Rae –y'know…" The group was surprised at how different Kate seemed in comparison to how she was before the whole event. When she saw that nobody said anything, she continued. "I think Neferet is up to something."

"Neferet?" Zoey said, surprised. "No, way," she automatically said. Why would _Neferet_ of all people be up to something? She was the High Priestess of the Tulsa House of Night. She was brave and caring and valiant. "You've got your facts wrong."

"Oh, yeah?" Kate retorted, "Then why else would she take Aphrodite's journal?"

The four fledglings gaped at her. Shaunee was the first to snap out of it. "_She _was the one that took it?"

"Well," she admitted, "technically, I was the one who took it but she was the one that wanted it." When she noticed that the stares turned into glares she defended, "I didn't know it was that important, okay! She told me that I'd be helping her improve the vampyre future and she said that she'd dismiss me from homework from homework for a whole month. It was a sweet deal if you ask me."

Damien shook his head. "Okay," he said, bottling up his irritation, "This just got _way_ more difficult than it already was."

* * *

"So," Rebecca said, letting out a sigh as she leaned back in her chair. "What about that vampyre theory of yours, Shaun?" They were finally back on track. Sure, she wished that she could skim forward and skip all the memories that Desmond had relived already but at least that blonde chick, Aphrodite, hadn't ruined anything with her interference with Ezio's life. Though she did find it odd that Aphrodite mentioned an iPod while talking to Ezio. So she wasn't from the Renaissance obviously.

Shaun turned away from the computer he had been tapping away at and replied, "What about it?"

"Any luck figuring out what Malibu Barbie wants?"she aked and yawned loudly.

"You should really cover your mouth when you do that, Rebecca. It's quite inappropriate."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she slurred drowsily. "Just tell me when you figure something out."

"Well, the only thing I know so far is that she's from the time period 2001 to the present –and that's only for her iPod reference. All we know is her name, appearance and the fact that she's a vampyre."

Rebecca sighed and narrowed her eyes. "Well, _thank you_ for narrowing it down for us. Ten years…" she trailed off.

Shaun ignored her and resumed sounding out his discoveries. "I don't even know where she lives. I need more information to figure out who she is," Shaun said turning back towards his computer screen. He tapped a few keys and then looked at the half-asleep Rebecca and added, "But I have checked out Nyx and it confirms my theory. Nyx is the goddess of night and the diety that the vampyres worship. Also, apparently, this Aphrodite girl can see the future. She's not a mature vampyre yet, either. Just a fledgling."

Lucy broke into the conversation with, "I've also looked up quite a bit about vampyres. If this girl is a fledgling, guys, she's in danger unless there are adult vampyres around. That might explain why she ran away from the brothel. She needs to be with a mature vampyre to complete her change or she'll die."

"Well, that's vampyres in general," Rebecca complained. She stood up and stretched her arms. "And you guys couldn't find anything about Aphrodite other than that?"

"Other than the fact that she's named for the Greek goddess of love?" Shaun scoffed, "Well, if we could, we'd be hunting down her House of Night right now and finding out how she was doing this, now, wouldn't we?"

"Touché, my friend," Rebecca sighed and walked to the lounge area of the room. "I need some coffee." She yawned. "Or some sleep," she added before collapsing onto one of the couches and dozing off.

* * *

Zoey laid back on Stevie Rae's bed that night, just thinking. She had grown to do that ever since Stevie Rae became dead to the world. Oh, _dead_. She hated that word. She snuggled up against her best friend's pillow and stared at her cowboy boot lamp that she always thought looked dorky but cool –in that dorky sort of way. She smiled as she recalled her first day at the House of Night (when she was conscious, that is). Stevie Rae was extremely friendly and an energetic whirlwind. She just knew that they were going to be friends. She felt her nose and eyes beginning to sting at the memory and decided to go to sleep in her own bed.

When she awoke, she headed straight towards the room where the Twins slept and rapped anxiously on the door. It was opened by a groggy looking Erin and behind her stood an even groggier looking Shaunee who was yawning and clutching what seemed to be a teddy bear. "Oh, Z," Erin slurred and let out a huge yawn. "Do you know what time it is? It's like the middle of the day."

Zoey nodded and gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, girls. I just have to talk to you. Go hunt down Aphrodite's friends and I'll try to call Erik or Damien and have them come over too," she said with as much authority as she could manage.

The Caucasian twin looked back at her chocolate colored friend and then nodded. "We'll be right on it, Zoey. Let's just get into something more attractive than these snowman pyjammas." She walked back into the room and practically slammed it in Zoey's face. Zoey forgave her though. She probably would've been pissed off as well and she _could've_ knocked more gently on the door. _Oops_. Stevie Rae's enthusiasm must've rubbed off on her.

* * *

After _months_ of travelling – Stevie Rae and Emma _finally_ got to Damascus. Stevie Rae gawked at the beautiful houses and scenery. The architecture was absolutely gorgeous. So this was where Emma wanted to take her. They abandoned their carriage at the city gates and resumed their journey on foot.

Emma was surprised as she walked through the town she had once roamed as Altaїr in the video game. It was much more beautiful now. Plus, she had been walking for a while and had not encountered a single beggar. What had happened to the town after Altaїr's time? Was it prospering like this because of the Assassins? All she knew was that she and Stevie Rae stood out like two sore thumbs. They were the _only_ females in the whole _city_ with their hair uncovered. All the women were veiled.

Suddenly, a loud voice pierced the bustle of the market and everyone, man and woman, stopped what they were doing and began walking uniformly in one direction. The voice shouted something in Arabic that the girls couldn't understand. "_Allahu akbar –Allahu akbar!"_

People began shuffling towards something. Out of curiosity, the fledglings followed them.

"_Qad qamat el salah! Qad qamat el salah!_ _Allahu akbar –Allahu akbar! La ilaha ella Allah!"_

The girls stopped when they found hundreds of people in front of a large, beautiful building. It had a large dome at the top and beside that a set of stairs atop of which a man was shouting. He was the one that was calling the people. Emma realized what this was. It was a mosque.

The people were all bowing on the ground –no, they were praying. The man who had been shouting was now stumbling down and stood in front of the people with his back to them. Suddenly, everything was quiet. The girls didn't dare break that silence. After watching the people for a minute, Emma nudged Stevie Rae to come with her and they left the people.

On their way to the makeshift House of Night, they found several other mosques with people praying inside and outside and all around. It was amazing how uniform those people were. Emma wondered if modern day Damascus was like this as well.

Emma was relieved when she entered the old bureau. There were a few of fledglings lounging. Some were training and some were chatting. She was glad that she wasn't wrong to come here. "Guys!" she called out. "I found the Red One!"

* * *

Carlos and Aphrodite reached the bureau _eventually_. Frankly, Aphrodite was glad they reached it at all! Carlos had decided to take the roofs because it was inappropriate for him to be seen with her in this religious country. Aphrodite thought it was ridiculous –then again, Aphrodite thought _a lot_ of things were ridiculous.

When they entered the bureau, Aphrodite almost squealed with happiness (but she didn't because Aphrodite absolutely _did not_ squeal with _any_ emotion) when she found Stevie Rae –_in assassin's clothing –_training with a slightly tanned brunette girl. Could you imagine? She was training and –wait. Wasn't Aphrodite supposed to be doing the training? She felt so clueless because she was the only person there who didn't know how to fight. Even _Stevie Rae_ was managing. Then she wondered, how _did _they convince that hippie little Okie girl to fight?

"Aphrodite!" Stevie Rae exclaimed when she finally noticed her fellow Tulsan. She dropped the sword she was dueling with and ran off to grab Aphrodite in a hug. You see, now, a year ago, she wouldn't have done that. _Ever_.

Aphrodite, on the other hand, _still _didn't hug people and naturally, she pushed the little ball of hype away from her. "Alright, dork. Let go."

"Oh, sorry," Stevie Rae mumbled and backed away. "It's just been so _long_! One _whole_ year!" She wiped her eyes which were beginning to tear up a bit. She truly did miss the hag from hell. Who would've thought that she'd ever miss Aphrodite?

Aphrodite admitted to herself that she was relieved to see Stevie Rae –but she _only_ admitted it to herself. She sighed and muttered, "Looks like I'll need someone to train me in the ways of the Assassin. Would you like to volunteer?" That was as close as Aphrodite would get to friendship with Stevie Rae –at least, she would _try_ to keep it that way.

Stevie Rae's face lit up and she exclaimed, "Of course!"

Aphrodite put on a half smile and examined the other girl's garments. "It's good that you lost the tight jeans and cowboy boots. They weren't just unattractive –they were plain ugly." Stevie Rae was taken aback but Aphrodite said it with a _smile_ and not a sneer so she let it slide.

* * *

"Alright, guys!" Zoey addressed everyone as soon as they were in the main common of the House of Night girls dorm. They all sat on various seats looking tired and irritated. She winced when she thought of how annoyed at her they all must've been and made a mental note to beg their forgiveness as soon as she was done speaking. "I just have to tell you to be careful of Neferet. We now have reason to add her to our suspect list. Even though she's my mentor and…" she trailed off and looked at the ground. She couldn't believe her mentor would do such a thing. It fit though. Neferet was an all-powerful High Priestess and whoever attacked the two girls sure came off as someone "all-powerful"

She quickly regained posture and resumed her speech. "I want you to watch what you think about when you're around her. According to Kate, she's up to something and that means that she might be the one who did… whatever was done to Stevie Rae." Then she added swiftly, "And Aphrodite."

Erik, who seemed to be the least grouchy, stood and replied, "Well, what if she has accomplices?"

Zoey shrugged. She hadn't thought of that but there was no reason anyone else needed to know that. "Watch what you think –_all the time_ –around _all _the adult vamps," she improvised. "We can't have anyone know that we suspect her. Got it?"

Her colleagues nodded and she smiled to herself. She just hoped that there weren't adults listening into what they were saying at that moment. That would've been quite inconvenient to say the least.

* * *

Ezio thanked Mario when he had learnt where Vieri de Pazzi was. He began moving between crowds of people towards the guard tower where his target waited. He began climbing the tower ominously. A strange feeling of anxiety mixed with fear swirled in Ezio's heart. The idea that he was going to kill someone unnerved him. Sure, he had killed before but throughout the years, the flame of his anger was calming and he was beginning to rethink his decisions. Too late though. He was a killer –an assassin –and now, he would have to live with it.

He caught up with Vieri at one of the guard towers. That boy was extremely arrogant and _very_ annoying. Ezio remembered why he hated him again. It gave him enough rage to duel with him and eventually deal him the fatal stab through the heart. Vieri gasped and fell to the ground.

"_Pezzo di merda! Vorrei solo che avessi di piu! Hai avuto la fine che meritavi! Spero che bru'-" _Ezio exclaimed, stabbing the already dead man repeatedly.

The only thing that stopped him from maiming Vieri's body further was his uncle Mario scolding him. "You are not Vieri. Do not become him." The old man looked at Vieri's corpse and murmured, "_Che la morte ti dia la pace che cercavi. Requiescat in Pace._"

"_Requiescat in Pace_"? After what he had done. Ezio tried to hide the scowl on his face from his uncle.

One Pazzi down, one to go.

He looked over his uncle's men thoughtfully. Just a couple of years ago he was running away from guards after sleeping with his lover, Cristina and now, he was a fugitive in all of Italy and he didn't know if Cristina still cared about him. She had probably gotten a new suitor. It still stung a bit to think of her with anyone but him, especially after what she had told him when he left her, but it comforted him to think of the fact that he still had a town full of courtesans waiting for him in Monteriggioni. It comforted him –but just a bit.

* * *

_**God, don't you love lazy endings (*cough*cutscenefromthegame*cough*) :D anyway... I loved Vieri's death in the game xD even though I liked Vieri, he's like... Italy's comic relief :D ... no?**_

_**Ezio: *coughcough***_

_**D: Oh Ezio! I haven't passed on the disease to you too, have I?**_

_**Ezio: -.- Lu doesn't own Assassin's Creed or House of Night**_

**_:/ I was gonna do that..._**


	12. Close Calls

**_I know. It has been so long. I blame Tumblr. I've just gotten into it and it is rotting my brain. BUT IT FEELS SOO GOOD!_**

**_Anyway, here's chapter 12. I hope it's kind of worth the wait..._**

**_Nah it probably isn't..._**

* * *

It had been one year since Stevie Rae had begun training herself and Aphrodite. The self-proclaimed Queen of Mean had honestly expected Stevie Rae to be her student. At least, that was how it was supposed to be. Looks like the student became the teacher before the teacher even got a chance to teach.

Aphrodite grumbled as Stevie Rae helped fit her into her armor. "Tell me again why this has to be so unattractive?" she whined as the Okie tightened the belt around her friend's waist.

"So you don't die!" Stevie Rae exclaimed with that twang that everyone at their makeshift House of Night had grown to love. "Wouldn't _dying_ be _way_ more unattractive than this?" she asked with an exasperated tone.

Aphrodite huffed like a little girl who wasn't getting what she wanted. "It's not like it's easy for _anyone_ to hurt us. We're vampyre fledglings! We have Nyx covering our asses! We don't need all of this!"

"Oh, be quiet, Aphrodite!" Stevie Rae exclaimed then pulled Aphrodite's hood over her head before doing the same to herself. "Can you at least_ try_ to be excited that we're actually leaving Damascus?" she asked. Yes, they were going to leave Damascus –finally. It was about time. Aphrodite knew that Ezio was faring well on his own and she still had no idea why she was here.

"Shouldn't we be figuring out why Nyx sent us here instead of chasing after that pervert?" she said, pulling her hood down and smoothing her hair. She stomped out of the room she and Stevie Rae shared and into their crude little lounge. "Alright, everyone!" she shouted.

"_Yes_, Aphrodite?" was the chorus that came in reply. Not many of the fledglings that were sent here by Nyx as well from 2007 liked Aphrodite so much. She didn't mind at all. She wasn't there to make nice with everyone. She was supposed to have an objective. As soon as she figured out what that was, she planned to leave their House of Night.

She scowled then said, "We do not have a goal at all! We have not even been trying to find out what it is! How are we going to get home if we don't complete our goal?"

A Spanish girl far from Aphrodite with a black boycut named Aubrey was the first to reply. "She's right! It'll only be so much time until our souls are unable to maintain the link with our bodies. If we don't do anything, then our souls will be stuck in the past for the rest of our lives, our bodies will die and we will never see our friends and family again!"

Many people voiced their agreement after Sydney. One of the American boys –a son of Erebus in training –then stood up. He had dark hair and a well-built body. "But how can you be sure that only our souls were sent here?" he asked, "Normally, two years is more than enough to break the link between body and soul. How could you know whether or not the link has been severed?"

This caused some alarmed gasps to erupt among the fledglings. A tiny girl with honey colored locks and glasses –Jenna, who was also American like Aphrodite and Stevie Rae –replied, "Um, Darius, was it?" The boy nodded. "The proof of us being all souls here is the fact that it is impossible to send our whole beings here! I mean, haven't you noticed how long we've managed without adult vamps? None of us has rejected the change." When nobody objected to what she was saying, the girl continued, "The holy Nyx would never endanger our lives!"

Aphrodite tapped her foot in irritation. "So?" she said, "Now that we understand why we haven't died yet, could _any_ of you tell us their theories about why the hell we're here?" Everyone was silent. She chuckled and mumbled, "I should've known that was the last thing on your minds. Well, whenever you decide to get off your lazy asses and get some work done, give me a call." She flipped her long, blonde hair back and headed back into her room to attatch the rest of her weapons to her belt.

Stevie Rae was waiting for her when she returned. "Well, Aphrodite," she began, "That wasn't very nice."

"But they deserved it," the Prophetess replied as she started going through her clothes and belongings.

"I never said they didn't." Stevie Rae watched her fellow Tulsan. "What are you doing?" she asked when Aphrodite began dumping her things into a large rucksack. She raised an eyebrow as the other girl hoisted the bag onto her shoulder and made her way to the door.

"Where do you think?" she replied like it was something Stevie Rae should've known. "_We've_ got a Master Assassin to find."

Stevie Rae noddedn the asked, "So _that_ is your brilliant plan to find our purpose? We look for that Master Assassin guy… Izo or whatever his name is?"

"_Ezio_," Aphrodite corrected her, "And yes, it is. I don't see anyone coming up with anything smarter."

Stifling a giggle, Stevie Rae replied, "Well, that _was_ the original plan."

"I just realized that it was a _good_ plan. _God_, don't be so judgmental, Texas." Aphrodite began leaving. "Are you coming, shortie?" She glanced back at Stevie Rae who quickly nodded and ran off to finish packing her own things. They weren't much but it was still a heavy burden. Apparently, Aphrodite had no intention of coming back and though Stevie Rae had come to adore the group of fledglings that was with them, she felt that she needed to stay with her slightly irritable friend. Y'know. Tulsans had to stick together

* * *

The nerd herd's first lecture with Professor Neferet since their alarming and uncertain revelation at the hands of Kate, was awkward to say the least. Zoey couldn't bring herself to pay attention to the High Priestess's words and kept getting caught staring at the wall beside her. Thankfully for her, it was Damien that caught her and not Neferet.

Zoey's group had become edgy around Neferet's presence. It terrified them that without words, she knew they suspected her and they knew it too. What was worse was the fact that she hadn't done anything to deny the claims. She was guilty and she didn't care if they knew. Oh, but she wasn't sloppy.

Neferet knew that Kate would rat her out. That was just the kind of person Kate was. She was certainly not the smartest fledgling at the Tulsa House of Night but neither were Zoey's merry band of delinquents. She was very energetic during her first lesson since their discovery of her. Of course, they had nothing on her but the diary and what would a diary filled with what seemed to be nonsense _possibly_ show about Neferet's inentions? She could _easily_ turn the world against them –and she would.

"Next lecture is very important!" the redheaded vampyre announced at the end of the class, "I don't want anybody to lose focus or neglect to pay attention. Some of you seemed very nonchalant in today's class and I don't want that tomorrow! Alright?" The "nonchalant" students in the class remained nonchalant while the rest enthusiastically voiced their agreement and consent without a worry on their minds. Neferet shared a secret smile with herself, picked her books up and strode gracefully out of the classroom.

As the High Priestess entered the professors' chambers, she was met with a peck on the lips from Loren. It caught her off guard that the _fool_ thought that their relationship was as casual as a peck on the lips here and there. Didn't he understand that _she _was the Goddess Incarnate and _he_ was merely a silly –well, she didn't know whether to call him a _man_ or a _boy_. With his stupid infatuation with her, Neferet found him quite easy to wrap around her finger. He thought it was true love but Neferet thought otherwise. She wouldn't settle for an imbecile like Loren. _Oh_, no. She had her sights set way higher than that. She would have to endure him though… Soon, she would be more than a High Priestess. She would be a goddess.

Her eye twitched at the silly boy and effortlessly, she painted a warm smile on her lips. "Hello, love," she said with every ounce of affection she could manage to feign. Well, perhaps most of it was appreciation for the favor she would soon ask of him. He was too starstruck –no, he was too _stupid_ to tell the difference. That boy would soon realize that he was nothing more than a tool to her. That was all he ever would be –in addition, perhaps, to some pleasure on the side. Neferet could not deny that the boy was attractive. It was what drew her to him. Of course, she couldn't deny that she herself was attractive and that was how she had him willing to do _anything_ for her.

She didn't need to hear his answer to her greeting so she simply waved him off. She turned her head to address him as she headed towards her chamber. Her glossy auburn hair swished elegantly as she did so. "I will be expecting you in bed at dawn," she said, her attitude changing completely. "Today was yet another victory and I shall be _quite_ passionate in my celebration," she said seductively and swayed her hips as she walked away. She laughed to herself, recalling the day's events. Yes, a victory indeed.

* * *

"Hey, it couldn't have been _that_ bad," Venus reassured the girl sobbing on her bed. She didn't really know _why_ Kate had chosen her to annoy with her crying. They weren't close or anything. Actually, she still didn't like her much for taking the Xbox. Now how was she going to play Guitar Hero (she hid it in her pillowcase and played it while Aphrodite was gone)? She sighed annoyed at the girl and proceeded to reassure her once again. Maybe all that reassurance would help get Kate _out_ of the room.

"You didn't see the way they looked at me!" Kate whimpered. Venus could see some snot on her sheets. She cursed under her breath. Well, looks like she would be sleeping on Aphrodite's bed that night. "I still haven't told them that I took the Xbox too. I swear I didn't take it for myself though! Neferet wanted _that_ too. It was so hard sneaking it out, y'know. Neferet didn't even keep her end of the bargain! I feel like such a tool!"

Venus's eye twitched and she replied, "Kate, you _are_ a tool." She sighed again and patted the girl's head awkwardly. "Hey, since Neferet didn't keep her end, you wouldn't mind telling me _why_ she needed all that stuff."

Kate let out a strangled gasp and paused her sobbing to reply. "Well, she said it was for the vampire future. Like… to save the world 'n' stuff. She just had this weird look in her eye. I mean, she didn't look like she was lying but I think she might've been twisting the truth a little. I don't trust her at all. Then again, I've never trusted her. It's my rule. I don't trust redheads. And Neferet has totally proven my theory. But _damn_ that woman is persuasive. I mean, I didn't trust her little proposition thing from the beginning but when she brought homework into the bargain, I guess I just fell for it –_hard_…"

"Kate, you're rambling now…" Venus tried but the girl wouldn't shut up. She decided that she liked Kate more when she was sobbing.

* * *

"We're lost."

"_No_, we're not!" Aphrodite snapped in her shrill voice.

"We're _lost_," Stevie Rae replied in a sing-song voice.

"We. Are. Not!"

Stevie Rae looked around. It was a watery town that they were in now. It looked like a swamp with houses built here and there. Aphrodite had told her that around this time, Ezio would be in Monteriggioni. She honestly _doubted_ that the town they were in was called Monteriggioni. "Aphrodite, maybe we should ask for directions? I mean, since apparently, we look French or British or whatever, people will think it's normal for us to be lost. Plus we're wearing dresses so it's all good!"

"And the crescent moons on our foreheads?" Aphrodite asked. "We look like freaks! How the hell will we explain that? You said yourself that people know what vampyres are here. If vampyres are assassins, then we have a fucking neon sign above our heads that says 'HERE THEY ARE!'"

"Well…" Stevie Rae was going to say something but she couldn't really argue with Aphrodite's logic. "Fine but…" She combed her bangs over her forehead. They covered her eyes a bit. They really had grown in her time in the past –or present –or whatever she could call it. "If I do this, does my mark show?"

Aphrodite sighed. "Do you know how stupid you look? It's dipshits like you that give us blondes a bad name."

"Well, I'm not the one that got us lost!" Stevie Rae retorted. "Now tell me, is my mark showing?"

Aphrodite shook her head. "No, it's not. Anyway, don't let that stop you! Go! Make a complete fucking idiot of yourself!"

Stevie Rae shrugged and made her way to what looked like a couple discussing something. "H-hello? Excuse me!" she called out to them. "Um, I'm not from around here and I really need some directions!"

The man, who, upon closer inspection, looked a bit younger than the voluptuous redhead beside him did, scoffed. "You _must_ be from abroad if you do not know to address the Lady with respect!"

_Lady?_ Stevie Rae thought. The woman stepped forward with a smile. "Now, now. Don't intimidate the poor young lady." Then she said to Stevie Rae, "My name is Caterina Sforza. You need not treat me like a noble for you are a _guest_ here." She emphasized the word "guest", obviously trying to give the other man a hint.

"Wh-what is it you need, Miss…" he trailed off.

"Stevie Rae. My name is Stevie Rae," the blonde replied. When she didn't get a reply she continued. "I need to know how to get to Monteriggioni."

Caterina smiled. "Well, that's not too far. How about I call an escort to take you and your friend there?" She pointed in Aphrodite's direction. Stevie Rae looked back at her friend (if she could call her that). Aphrodite lifted her middle finger at the other fledgling and Stevie Rae was glad the middle finger meaning hadn't been invented yet.

* * *

Shaun let out a long breath as he watched several checkpoints appear on Desmond's map. Ezio –or Desmond –was currently assassinating a man somewhere in Forli. He grumbled. This was a pointless mission and he wondered why Desmond was even bothering to go through it. He had so much to do and their time was running out. Something caught his eye as Ezio ran towards the stables. There were two blonde girls arguing next to a coach and a man who was clearly irritated. He saw Ezio raise his eyebrows at the two as he mounted his horse and rode off.

He couldn't possibly have mistaken the two names he heard as he replayed the footage on his computer over and over. _Aphrodite_ and… Stevie Rae? So, either Aphrodite had made a friend in the past or she wasn't the only girl there from the future (or the nearer past?).

* * *

_**Vieri, will you do the honors?**_

___**Vieri: What?**_

_**Ugh... I don't own Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft does. House of Night belongs to PC and Kristen Cast. **_

_**Oh, if you've seen any factual mistakes, please tell me. This chapter is my least favorite. I feel like everything I wrote is blah and when I read it over, I don't know what to fix haha**_

_**Now, clicky my review button. I miss that "_ has reviewed your story" e-mail I used to get every once in a while.**_


	13. Know the Enemy

_**HI! D: I know. You hate me for making you wait this long... That is, I meant my non-existent readers**_

_**...**_

_**What's that? You actually **_**do_ exist. Well, PARDONNEZ-MOI, peepz ;D_**

**_By the way, this is where people who haven't read past "Betrayed" in the HoN series should probably leave._**

* * *

It was the freakiest thing Zoey had seen for a while –or since Stevie Rae and Aphrodite were found in a bloody mess _that day_. This just out-freakied that. Seriously. She could've sworn that real vampyres didn't get red eyes like the ones from the movies. At least, that's what she was told. She also could've sworn that fledglings who rejected the change _didn't_ come back to life. So when she saw the hunching figure in the courtyard with blood red eyes and Elliot's familiar bright orange hair, she freaked out to say the least.

She looked at it –_him –_no, definitely _it_. She shuddered as in the part of her that disliked zombie movies crawled. _Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh Ew! Ew!_ She tried to contain the part of her that was breathing hard and ran for the dorms, hoping that the Elliot-thing wouldn't see her and target her in bed.

She was stopped by none other than Erik Night on her way. He cocked his head to the side as he examined her tired self. "Are you okay, Zoey?" he asked.

_Huff_. She tried to look up at him from her bent position with her hands on her knees. "I'm… fine… Just… scared that… a vamp… will ca-catch me… out here when" She paused to take a breath then straightened her posture. "When I should be in bed." She heaved one last breath before her breathing returned to its normal rate. She couldn't tell _anyone_ about what she saw until she was sure. Anyone would think she was nuts if she said something about it.

The fledgling heartthrob seemed to be amused at the whole story and looked like he was contemplating how to reply. "Well, I just wanted to say… I'm sure you're not doing any of this searching stuff for Aphrodite but I still appreciate it. She may be a 'hag from hell' as many people put it but she's still my girlfriend and I know deep down in that allegedly black heart of hers, she does love me." Zoey smiled at how understanding he was. _Damn, girl! That is boyfriend material right there!_ That was what Stevie Rae would've said… Zoey let out a hysterical sounding giggle when Erik hastily added "I think."

The two of them were both laughing on their way to the girls' dorm. Zoey began to wonder how the hell he and Aphrodite got together in the first place. They were so unlike each other. "Thanks, Erik, for walking me here," she said with a smile. By the time she was lying in her warm bed, she had forgotten all about the red-eyed thing.

* * *

"Leave now," Neferet panted and stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. The thin blanket only covered select parts of her exposed body. She didn't mind though.

"But, Neferet, we've only just finished."

Loren couldn't say more when Neferet simply replied, "And if we're finished then there's no reason for you to be here." She watched anxiously as the Poet Laureate hurriedly put on his undergarments and pants then sloppily put his arms through the sleeves of his chemise. "Quickly, Loren," the High Priestess drawled lazily, not taking her eyes off of the ceiling.

"I apologize, Priestess. I'll leave now," he said breathlessly and ran off, shutting the door behind him.

After a few moments of silence and some deep breaths to calm herself after the somewhat violent lovemaking, she heaved herself off of her bed. Her sheets slid off of her body as she made her way towards her window. The curtains flapped around her as soon as she opened her window. She didn't even bother to cover herself. She could hardly feel the coldness of the night air.

_The sun will be up soon…_ she thought to herself. She smirked at the starless sky and looked at the dark earth. Somehow, the earth _would_ bleed red. She just wondered how she would do so. Only living things bled. She could hardly call the dirt below _living_.

She had deciphered most of the prophecy. She was Queen Tsi Sgili; there was no doubt about it. She _was_ the one instigating Kalona's awakening. She smiled at the thought of the immortal. Nyx may have been his high priestess millenia ago but now but _she_ kicked him out… _Perfect_… for Neferet that is. With an immortal on her side, _noone_ would think to question her. She just needed Zoey Redbird out of the way. That girl was obviously special to Nyx. She couldn't have someone like that ruining things for her. Neferet, as usual, had the _perfect_ plan. After all, what was a sovereign without her folowers? What was a pathetic little girl without her friends?

* * *

"_Zio_!" Claudia cried out, "This is absolutely unfair! Why do the _men_ get all the excitement!"

"_Nipota,_" Mario said affectionately, caressing the young girl's cheek, "it is in the Auditore nature to make sure our beautiful young women are unharmed. This is for your protection, Claudia. And besides, who else could I entrust to this task? Your mother is in no shape to do this and my men are a bunch of idiots."

"Believe me, _Zio._ Just give me two days worth of training with a dagger and I'll be the most feared assassin there ever was!" the girl exclaimed.

Mario chuckled. "I wouldn't doubt that, _Nipota_. You sure are a spirited young woman. You are also very beautiful and my men are easily distracted…" he trailed off, realizing his mistake. Claudia would not appreciate his remark at all…

"So now I am a distraction, Uncle?" Claudia cried, confused and irritated.

"No, _Nipota_!" Mario reassured her, "All I mean is –"

"Ser Mario!" a man exclaimed, barging into the office. "There are two young women here. They…" He paused to catch his breath and perhaps to hesitate a bit. "They're here to see your nephew –Ezio."

Mario gave the man a puzzled look. What kind of person would follow Ezio here? And two women… As he smiled to his niece apologetically and headed towards the foyer of the manor, he sighed, thinking, these girls were probably not past lovers.

The front doors were open and he found two blonde girls whispering harshly to each other. It was probably safe to assume they did not think too fondly of each other. "How may I help you young women?" he asked, interrupting them and turning their attention to him.

They both had blonde hair and the one with the longer hair spoke first. "My name is Aphrodite and that's Stevie Rae." She pointed to the second girl before continuing. "_You_ must be Mario."

"How do you know all these people, Aphrodite?" Stevie Rae asked. She had a distinctive accent in her voice.

Despite not knowing the young girl, he had to agree with her. "How _do_ you know us, Aphrodite?"

"I'm an old… acquaintance of Ezio's. If he's not here, ask Claudia. I tried to warn Giovanni about being apprehended by the guards in Florence. Can't say he believed me though…" She looked at Mario expectantly. "So?"

"So?" Mario repeated after her in confusion. The girl tapped her foot in irritation.

The nicer of the two girls replied, "We want to know where we can find Ezio."

"Oh," Mario said, "I'm afraid he's not here at the moment. The last I heard was that he was somewhere in Forli."

"You mean…" Aphrodite seemed to be heating up. "We were just _there_!" she exclaimed angrily. She took a deep breath and calmed down before asking, "He's bound to come back here sometime. Any idea when?"

The man shook his head in remorse. "I apologize. I do not know. There's nothing to do but wait. I shall see to it that you are accomodated in one of the finest brothels in the Monteriggioni and I will send for you as soon as Ezio arrives. _Bene_?"

"Sounds good –" Stevie Rae began but was interrupted by Aphrodite. "A brothel? Are you kidding? Aren't there any inns _anywhere_ in this fucking place? Brothels are totally unpleasant and there's this unnattractive stench of… _ew_ I'm not even going to think of where it's coming from. I don't want that scent sticking in my hair. I really need a shower. All this travelling has made me filthy! I haven't taken a proper shower in _weeks_!"

Mario chuckled as the girl spoke and spoke and spoke. He could tell she was fed up. "Tell me, child. Where is your family? Do they _know_ that you're off on your own searching for perverted men like my nephew?"

"Well, I don't disagree with you on that. That guy wouldn't last a minute in the dating world where I'm from. Can you spell '_Ladies Man_'?"

Mario's laughter heartened at her. "You have quite the sense of humor, my child. Now, tell me. What of your family… your parents?"

"Parents?"

Mario nodded. "They must be worried about you…"

Aphrodite looked down. "They don't care. And while I'd _love_ to give you my sob story, we're sort of on a tight schedule. We'll walk around until you've found us an inn to stay in." She grabbed Stevie Rae's arm and walked down the steps. Stevie Rae flashed him a small smile before the two of them were lost in the crowd.

Mario shook his head smiling. Somehow, he expected a strange turn of events once these women found Ezio. He chuckled and walked back into his home where Claudia was sitting at the bottom of the stairwell with her face in her hands. "What did they want, Uncle?" she asked. Mario chuckled and patted the girl on the head before sitting down beside her and telling her all about the strange girls.

* * *

"Zoey!" a fourth former girl with waist length black hair whose name Zoey could never figure out approached Zoey anxiously. "Guess what?"

Zoey shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "What?"

The girl looked extremely hyped up while Zoey was currently the opposite. She had awoken way too early in the evening. She had been thinking about Erik and how super cute he was for half of her time awake. The other half was consumed by dreary thoughts of the… undead dead thing she saw the day before. She really needed Stevie Rae around. There was nobody else who understood her like that girl did –except for, perhaps… her grandmother! It hit her like a rocket flying at high speed. She could talk to her grandmother about this. Sure it would mean being really tired the next day but she would probably live…

She had been so drowned in thought that she didn't think she heard the girl clearly. "Neferet wants you as head of the Dark Daughters until Aphrodite recovers! Isn't that totally awesome! I can't believe Professor Neferet trusts you with all that stuff. That is so cool. You get to wear all the fancy dresses and do that sexy dance in front of all the hot guys without being a ho!"

She wanted to say "But Aphrodite kinda_ was_ a ho…" but she didn't. The girl was still spouting nonsense. It was almost worse than the K-babble that she had barely escaped with her life. "Listen!" Zoey exclaimed, interrupting her, "I would love to stay and chitchat but I _really_ have something I need to do." Well, _no_, she didn't but she could probably go research on that Dark Daughters stuff that Neferet just added to her already full plate. That woman was just doing that on purpose!

* * *

"Shaun," Lucy called from her station, "You'd better take a look at this!" She looked at her computer screen wide-eyed and tucked a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"What is it?" he asked, getting off of his seat for the first time in hours and rushing towards Lucy. "Have you found anything?"

She nodded. "It's about Stevie Rae –I think." She turned her monitor slightly to show him. "I've found a bit of vampyre history and it says that there was a vampyre named Stevie Rae Johnson. Well, actually, she was a fledgling and she rejected her change."

"So she's dead?" Shaun was bemused now.

"Well, no. That's the strange part. It also says that shortly after she died, she became an undead fledgling with a red mark instead of a blue one," she continued. "Then, while aiding the current High Priestess of the vampyre council in saving the vampyres from a rogue vampyre named Neferet, she became the world's first Red Vampyre and the first Red High Priestess."

"So she's alive." Shaun stated the obvious, seeming a bit confused with all the talk of High Priestesses and vampyre councils.

"Yeah, and get this. It says that the group who saved the world (in 2007 I should add) had a human girl helping them out named Aphrodite. She was the first fledgling to revert back into a human rather than rejecting the Change." She looked at Shaun, expecting him to say _anything_ about what she had found.

"Well… that certainly is helpful. So what does it say about what those two girls are doing in the late 1400's?"

He heard Rebecca scoff. "I'm on it!" she called out to him.

* * *

Walking back to the villa Auditore in Monteriggioni, Ezio passed by a familiar man who was holding a piece of parchment but drawing something different. He was drawing in a red color. When Ezio came by to take a look, he saw him dip his quill into a bottle of red liquid and sketch intricate, delicate lines all over the face of a young woman. The woman herself was drawn in black but her eyes and markings were all in red.

"You dropped some of your ink on your hand, Ser…" he trailed off when he noticed that the man had not, in fact, dropped ink on his hand, rather, it was oozing out of a slit in his wrists. "Your hand, my friend! You should see a doctor!" He grabbed the man's free hand, so as not to ruin his painting or cause him pain.

The man simply broke free of Ezio's grasp and whispered ominously to him. "Know your enemies before they know themselves."

"What? You mean Rodrigo?" He winced at the hand again. Sure, he had killed many but he never stayed to watch them die. The man coughed. "Come, sir! I will take you to a doctor then you can tell me about these enemies of mine."

"No, the enemy is… There's no time!" The man smiled and revealed a dagger. "The templars… they are corrupt," he said with a slight wheaze. Ezio already knew that. Of course they were corrupt. He wouldn't be fighting them if they weren't. "You must choose your side quick, lad, lest you end up facing your friends as well as your enemies." He coughed again. "Find the Red One. Find her!"

"Of course, I will but let's get you to a doctor!" Ezio cried out.

The man began to laugh hysterically before setting his portrait on top of the pile beside him and plunging the dagger in his own heart.

"No!" Ezio all but screamed.

* * *

**_Sooooo... was this -uhh -satisfactory?_**

**_I'll get other chapters up sooner! I promise! You may need to threaten me with death and other things, but you'll get them! :O_**

**_Zo: You forgot to..._**

**_AH! Right... I really don't own anything. Just my words._**


	14. Reconcilliation

**_A CHAPTER! EVERYONE! LOOK! :D_**

**_Sorry I haven't been updating much... I just have exams and laziness... hopefully things will go faster... but no promises :/ Thank you to anyone who's still putting up with me I LOVE YOU_**

* * *

Aphrodite struggled to open her eyes the next morning. Sure, she was in the brothel (because _apparently_ you couldn't stay at inns for free) and that pissed her off. But she was also very tired and even though the bed was probably covered in love juices from God knows who (well, the girls might've washed them but she couldn't be certain) it was really comfortable and she didn't want to get out of it.

"I thought the _dirty _bed freaked you out, Aphrodite," Stevie Rae commented from the doorway. She headed towards the window and opened the blinds, letting the light in at its full power. "Rise and shine! Mario's already got a messenger here to tell us that Ezio's here. That sure was fast, huh? Faster than the turkeys on thanksgiving day!"She giggled and went back to the doorway.

Aphrodite winced at the light and struggled to get up while saying, "Is that an Okie joke? 'Cause it's not funny." She fumbled on the ground for her shoes.

Stevie Rae ignored her and resumed speaking. "Come to think of it, if I remember my history correctly, doesn't Columbus set out for the Americas right about now?"

"No," Aphrodite grumbled, "He does that in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood." She wanted to hit the girl saying, "He actually set out for India, you idiot!" but she contained her morning grumpiness because it really wouldn't help anyone if she killed Stevie Rae.

The Okie huffed. "I meant in this time period; while Ezio's alive."

Aphrodite shrugged then nodded. "I guess so. Yeah, that is, if we don't end up changing the timeline and doing something ditzy that gets him killed before Brotherhood." Stevie Rae nodded as well and Aphrodite passed her on her way out of the bedroom. "Well," she began, stopping to wait for the girl who had stayed behind, staring at nothing in contemplation, "are you coming or not?"

Stevie Rae lifted her head. "Oh! Yeah!" She and the prophetess ran down to the ground floor of the brothel. Stevie Rae _tried_ to express her gratitude but Aphrodite had her out that door so fast she couldn't even form the first syllable on her tongue.

It wasn't a very far walk from the brothel to the villa Auditore yet Aphrodite found herself extremely bored. "It's still morning! We just woke up. How in the whole world could you be bored?"

Aphrodite shrugged. "I'm so bored, I could listen to country music."

"Yeah!" Stevie Rae exclaimed, not seeing the mockery in her voice. "I _could_ use some Kenny Chesney right about now!"

"I can't believe you like that dork," Aphrodite exclaimed, "Ugh and Taylor Swift… it's like they're raping my ears with their scratchy Miley Cyrus voices and their banjos."

"I can't say I disagree with you about Miley Cyrus. But she's not that bad… Ooh! And Taylor Swift is the cutest little country starlet ever!" she remarked, twirling in place. Aphrodite couldn't believe her ears when her company suddenly broke into song. "Someday, I'll be living in a big old city! And all you're ever gonna be is _mean_!"

"Why do I feel like this is somehow directed at me?" Aphrodite groaned but she never got her answer because they had reached the steps leading to the villa. At the bottom of the steps sat Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the flesh.

"Aphrodite, what brings you here so suddenly?" he asked, clearly seeming irritated. "I mean, you room with my family for days. You become my sister's closest friend in a long time. You're there through one of the biggest events of my family. You don't even stick around to make sure we're alright afterwards. You leave without so much as a 'Sorry for the trouble' or a 'Thank you for your hospitality' or perhaps a 'Sorry about your father and brothers'…" He looked _majorly_ pissed. "And now you're here, no doubt for _another _favor, eh?"

Aphrodite looked away from him. She didn't do apologies. Like he would've accepted any apology from her. She didn't know what to say though. She didn't even know he'd take it so personally.

"My sister –_Claudia_ if you remember her –is very angry with you. I would suppose that you don't really care anyhow."

Thankfully, Aphrodite had an Okie whirlwind on her side to save her ass from the PMS-ing assassin. "Listen, you!" He looked at her, flabbergasted. He probably hadn't even noticed her there. "I don't know what you got against Aphrodite but don't go making assumptions without hearing her out first. PMS-ing her booty off before she even says anything is totally not cool."

"PMS-ing? What is that?"

"It doesn't matter! What matters, Mr. Auditore, is that Aphrodite is _not _here for any favors! _We_, actually, are here to _help_ you in the assassin-templar war. Aphrodite is psychic. She can help you figure out the enemies' next moves and I'm a pretty kickass assassin if I do say so myself. We can help you win…"

"And I know how you will end Rodrigo," Aphrodite added quickly.

"Really?" Ezio said sarcastically. "And how will that be?"

Aphrodite winked. "Well, I can't say everything. You'll just have to wait and see for yourself. But just know that you _will _end him."

Ezio nodded, not quite believing every single word but accepting the explanation nonetheless. "I suppose you girls can fight, can't you?"

"Naturally," Aphrodite replied, moving her hair behind her shoulder.

Still nodding, he made an _Mh_ sound then said, "Well, since we're going to be fighting together, pray tell me what those marks on your foreheads mean. They are very strange."

Aphrodite saw him suddenly begin to scrutinize Stevie Rae. The poor girl was so innocent that she didn't even notice until Aphrodite passed a hand between the fledgling and the assassin to break the invisible line of concentration. "Um, Ezio, can you stop ogling Stevie Rae; it's kinda creepy."

"Oh, _pardone_ but I just… _know_ this girl from somewhere. I just can't seem to remember where." He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

Aphrodite glanced at Stevie Rae, who shrugged, and said, "Well, not many blondes around here. Maybe you banged a blonde at some point in your life." She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.

"No," Ezio said, "I've slept with many blondes, but this girl –I've seen her somewhere but…" He brought his hand to Stevie Rae's forehead and pushed away the bangs. "This… it was red. I've seen it."

Stevie Rae let out a light giggle, trying to alleviate the severe air of awkwardness due to the fact that Ezio still had his hand on her forehead. "There's no such thing as a red mark, right, Aphrodite?"

Aphrodite shrugged. "I guess. We haven't really taken anything like it at school so…"

"Well, are you going to stand around and talk like old ladies or are you going to start training?" It was Mario's voice that interrupted their conversation. He had a point. It was about time they started to train. Stevie Rae couldn't wait to start training with the best of the best.

* * *

"_U-we-tsi-a-ge-ya_," Grandma Redbird said affectionately to her granddaughter over the phone, "I'm so sorry about Stevie Rae. From what I heard, she seemed to be such a sweet young girl. So you want me to help with this predicament of yours?" The old woman heaved a sigh and on Zoey's end of the phone, it sounded more like static.

Zoey nodded although her grandmother couldn't see then said, "Yeah, because I can't do this alone. I have to replace Aphrodite as leader of the dark daughters and I'm completely lost. I have no idea what to do. The dragon lady" Zoey's code for Neferet in case someone was eavesdropping "probably did this to add more things to my to-do list which was pretty much _already_ full without her little addition." She groaned. "I thought that perhaps you could look into this thing as well if you're not too busy. I just have no time nowadays."

She heard graveness in her grandma's voice as the woman said, "Well, I'll do what I can, but perhaps you could get someone to retrieve the diary for you. If I could get my hands on it, I could see what its connection to Neferet and the girls is clearly. Right now, I have nothing to go by other than the fact that Aphrodite is a psychic and somehow, the girls' spirits are away from their bodies."

"I'll see what I can do," Zoey muttered. Stealing things is already pretty hard to do. Stealing from the dragon lady –even _harder._

There was hesitation on the other end before the old woman finally spoke. "I believe your friends will be just fine. Trust in your goddess. She has chosen you, hasn't she?"

Zoey nodded stupidly again. "I guess so." She sighed and said, "Well, thank you so much, Grandma. I love you."

"I love you too, _u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya._"

With that, the conversation ended and Zoey put away her phone. There were still just a couple of hours before the fledglings had to turn in and go to bed so Zoey decided that she should probably get started on her Dark Daughters research. She needed that over with as soon as possible. The last thing she needed was Neferet nagging over her head about it.

The first thing she did when she emerged from the girls' dorm was look at the sky. It was pitch black. The moon was high up and suddenly, she felt guilty for calling her grandmother so late in the night. She hugged herself as a cool breeze blew through her hair and under her clothes. She shivered once then resumed her small journey to the library.

It was silent as she expected. She spotted a fledgling or two catching up on some studying in the silence. Nobody that she knew was there though. She shrugged. It wasn't like she really _needed_ a distraction. She was too busy. She headed silently towards one of the sections of the library to search for anything regarding Dark Daughter ceremonies and flinched when one of the fledglings aimed a perplexed stare at her. It was as though she wasn't allowed to be there. She ignored it and grabbed the first book her eyes fell upon.

Collapsing into one of the chairs and burying her nose into the book, she began to read as if her life depended on it. Unfortunately for her, all distractions came when she least desired.

"Zoey Redbird, what a surprise…"

Yes, folks. It was _the_ Loren Blake. The uber hott (with two t's) Poet Laureate that had almost every girl (the straight ones, that is) falling all over themselves at his feet. The mental image made her want to giggle… but she couldn't _giggle_ when the guy was _two freaking meters_ away from her. She just held her mouth awkwardly open like she was debating on what to reply.

"I've heard of your new position as the leader of the Dark Daughters. What with your friend falling into that trance, it must be too much to handle." He walked two large, tantalizing steps towards her, making the distance between them fall to only one meter. "I suppose it may be for the best. After all, that mark indicates that you've been chosen by Nyx. Leadership of the Dark Daughters is your rightful place," he said quietly. Zoey didn't know whether he was being quiet because they were in a library or not but whatever it was, it was extremely sexy. "I heard Neferet contemplating whether or not to make the position permanent even after Aphrodite awakens." Zoey sucked in a breath. He grip on the book tightened and suddenly, she knew she would give anything to be in that man's arms no matter how wrong it was.

He took another two steps and Zoey had to stand up so that she was staring at his face and not his finely toned chest. "Why won't you speak, Zoey?" The way he said her name made her want to close that distance between them and kiss his face off but she didn't. He _was_ an adult vampyre. It was so wrong.

"I… I have work to do…" she sputtered lamely. "I'm just so…" she trailed off as the distance between them halved and she could smell his delicious scent.

"Very well, then," he mumbled in her ear. "Perhaps I'll see you again later, Zoey…" Loren made his leave and in his wake, he left Zoey with her eyes hazy and her thoughts jumbled. She just knew that no matter how hard she tried, there would be no way for her to sit back down and concentrate fully on her reading again with that _man_ on her mind.

Well, hell…

* * *

"So, we're going after those two girls?" Desmond asked as Lucy helped him out of the Animus to give him a break.

"Yeah, well, not _us_, but _I_ am going," she replied, going back to her desk and placing two handguns on it. She couldn't risk Abstergo following her to Tulsa while she sought out the two fledglings.

"Looks dangerous," he commented, "Not relying on your badass assassin skills, eh?"

She sighed. "This is the twenty first century. We might as well use guns rather than swords and arrows." She ran her hand through her hair then adjusted the bun at the back of her head. "It probably won't be _that_ dangerous but we've got to be ready for anything. The worst that could happen is that I accidently reveal your location, which is why I'm going alone."

"Got it. So what about those training sessions. Without you, who's holding 'em?"

"Rebecca is. Shaun would rather do other things but you should know that they're both equally capable. You could say that they're actually stronger than me," she raised her head to shoot him a split-second smile. If he caught it, he caught it and if he didn't well, she didn't really mind.

"Yeah… well, be careful. We still don't know how these vampyres will react to a human coming up to them."

"Aphrodite is human," Lucy replied. "Plus, it looks like they're assassins like us."

"So… you're just leaving like this?"

Lucy smiled. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you _wanted_ me to stay."

"More like I want to go with you," he replied as the two of them made their way to the bottom floor of the warehouse.

"You know why you can't, Desmond."

"Yeah…" he said, accepting defeat, "I know."

* * *

**_Well, that's all for now, folks :D I'm pretty excited about Lucy going out to look for Tulsa! What about you?_**


	15. Miei Occhi

**_I'm all about the eyes today, eh ;D_**

**_Well, if you haven't read my Vampire Diaries oneshot (or if you don't care to and that's okay too) you won't get that little eye joke xD But that's alright. It's not like it has anything to do with this fanfic._**

**_Anyway, it took me less than a month to update! YAY ME *claps*_**

* * *

If Zoey Redbird called her life _easy_… well… that would be the understatement of the century. It was anything _but_ that. It was the day of her first Dark Daughters meeting as the leader and not just a member. Her nerves were eating her alive. She just wanted to get it over with so she could worry about what Neferet may be up to.

"Blessed be," she greeted the Dark Daughters and Sons distractedly. She hadn't realized that they stopped coming in until she muttered "Blessed be" and got a loud chorus of "Blessed be" in reply. Well, this was going perfectly –perfectly _awkward_, that is.

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. Erik recited poetry while she nonchalantly danced around. She had too much on her mind to worry about whether she was doing it right or not. Aphrodite made it seem so easy… Neferet too. Neferet was the only thing she could bring herself to think about. She had to find a way to take Aphrodite's diary back from her. The thing was that Zoey knew that if she sent anyone but herself to take it, Neferet would read their mind and if she herself went, Neferet would be expecting her.

In a dark corner of her mind, she was controlling the actions she had rehearsed so thoroughly in her mind that she knew she couldn't go wrong. Still, in that corner of her mind, she was worried about screwing up _big time_.

"Z?"

It was Shaunee's voice that awoke her from her trance. All the Dark Daughters and Sons were gone. All who remained were whatever was left of her group, Erik, and the refrigerator, who was silently cleaning up the bloody mess of his arm. Zoey winced. She had forgotten to worry about that.

"Z, you've been zoned out for the past ten minutes since the meeting ended. You didn't even say 'Merry meet' and whatever while everyone was leaving." Shaunee's expression was clearly showing worry. "You alright?"

Zoey blinked a couple of times before grinning at her dark skinned friend. "I just figured out how we're going to get that diary."

* * *

"Feeling tired, Aphrodite?" Ezio said, panting as he tossed the girl onto the ground once again. This was the umpteenth time he'd beaten her that day and he was going easy on her.

Usually, Aphrodite would complain about the dirt getting on her clothes and how ruffled her hair looked. She didn't even want to think about the last time she had touched a hair brush and hoped that she could get Claudia to forgive her soon so that she could tame her unruly mane. Right now, however, Aphrodite could only think of one thing and that was kicking the Auditore's ass so far that he wouldn't need a boat to get to Rome, just Aphrodite's boot.

She grunted and used her sword to block Ezio's hidden blade. He was aiming it towards her shoulder and it took so much restraint not to thrust it through her flesh and rip the appendage off. When Aphrodite didn't answer him, he smirked and leaped out of the way of her sword. "Take a break, Aphrodite."

"Nah! I've still got some fight in me!" she replied viciously.

In three moves to be exact, Ezio had the fledgling pinned to the ground again. "_Take a break, Aphrodite,_" he repeated. "You're exhausted. You're just too stubborn to admit it."

Aphrodite tried to slow her panting down, but ended up coughing violently. She wiped sweat off of her brow with the edge of her sleeve.

"Are you alright?" Ezio exclaimed and crouched down to help her get into a sitting position.

She was about to say, "Yes, I'm fine," but was cut short by a scream that she couldn't recognize as her own and a familiar burn in her eyes. She couldn't hear anything or see anything. She groped around in front of herself for something to grasp onto. Then it started.

* * *

Claudia's hands were rougher than Stevie Rae would've liked as they braided the blonde hair. Not that Claudia was angry or anything like that, but she was quite aggressive in her method. Stevie Rae was taking it like a man and hoping that the Italian girl would notice her subtle winces and realize that she was causing the fledgling pain.

"Ezio and I have convinced _Zio_ to let you and Aphrodite stay here," Claudia said as she took a strand of hair and pulled it to tighten the braid. "There are some extra rooms and we convinced him that there was no harm in having a couple of extra mouths to feed. I mean… it's not like Mother will eat much…" Her tone became more melancholy at the mention of her still mourning mother. "After all this time… she hasn't said a word." Now it seemed to Stevie Rae like the younger girl was speaking to herself and before she could get a word in, a bloodcurdling scream broke the peaceful atmosphere of Claudia's bedroom.

"_APHRODITE!_" That was Ezio's voice.

Stevie Rae felt some relief as Claudia immediately dropped her unfinished braid and rushed to the window. "Ezio! What is going on?" she cried, but he couldn't hear her. Before Claudia could turn around and head out the door, she saw that Stevie Rae was already gone.

The fledgling half ran and half jumped down the stairs and through the open door. Ezio was rushing towards her with Aphrodite in his arms. "Do you know what is happening to her?"

Stevie Rae took a moment to take in the sight before her. Aphrodite was in an abysmal state. In addition to the minor wounds she had acquired while sparring with Ezio, her eyes were bloodshot and bleeding from their sockets. Her nose was bleeding as well. Stevie Rae sucked in a deep breath to retain consciousness as she answered Ezio."She's having a vision."

* * *

Fresh air felt good. It felt _really_ good. Lucy almost wanted to let go of the handlebars of her motorcycle and scream, but that wouldn't have been the wisest decision for two reasons. The first was obvious and the second was that she didn't want to draw attention to herself. She was trying to be as careful as possible. Once she got to the highway, it would be smooth sailing. There was no way Abstergo and Vidic would have any idea where she was going and why.

* * *

The night (or _day_) after the Dark Daughters ceremony was the soundest Zoey had ever slept since Stevie Rae and Aphrodite lost their souls. The ceremony had gone well, or so Erik and the others had told her, and she couldn't care less otherwise. She also had plan to handle the Dragon Lady –or at least, the beginnings of one. She felt like an immense pressure had been lifted from her shoulders until one thought crept its way into her mind. What would they do once they found out what Neferet was up to? What if it turned out to be something terrible? Neferet wouldn't keep them alive if they knew and there was no way they could fight her.

Zoey's plan wasn't the greatest plan, even _she_ could see that, but at least she had a plan.

"So we're not gonna steal it?" Erin asked just to be sure. "But what if Neferet doesn't follow the plan?"

"That's the only problem," Zoey replied, "But I have a feeling she will. I mean, if she doesn't, then that'll break her little shell of trust that she has around herself and the rest of the professors. At a time like this, that's the last thing she needs. The hard part is convincing Lenobia to do it."

* * *

Back in Damascus, Emma was fast asleep. It was around midnight, but she and the other fledglings had long since abandoned their usual sleep routine to blend in with the humans. Sure, the sun did sting a bit, but that was something they would have to endure when they wanted to save the world from an evil High Priestess from Hell…

What woke Emma up was some fidgeting and moaning from her boyfriend. The bed was shaking as the boy began to shiver violently.

"Baby," she said drowsily, "Are you okay?" She lit the gas lamp at her side to get a better look at what was going on with him. His hands were clamped tightly over his eyes and his mouth was wide open in a long moan. She suddenly became alert. "Benny?" she cried, holding his bulky frame to her own. He was having a vision. "Shh, Benny. Everything will be fine. You're with me, baby…" she whispered lovingly into his ear as she brushed a couple of sweaty strands of hair away from his face.

* * *

"Alright, everybody!" Stevie Rae called out to everyone in reach as she and Ezio burst through the Villa doors with Aphrodite. "I need wet towels, water, and maybe some vodka for later."

"Shouldn't we send her to a doctor?" Ezio asked as he followed Stevie Rae into one of the guest bedrooms.

"No, Ezio," Stevie Rae replied firmly as they set Aphrodite onto the bed and covered her shuddering body with a blanket. "Remember those marks on our foreheads that you were so curious about?" Ezio nodded. "Well, nobody can know about them."

"Well, you have been travelling for God knows how long with them exposed. Why is it that _now_ it must be a secret?"

"It just is!" Stevie Rae hissed as she grabbed a wet towel from one of the housekeepers. She placed it on Aphrodite's eyes. The towels quickly darkened in color.

"So what is the vision about?" Ezio asked. Only when Stevie Rae snapped at him angrily did he realize how stupid his question was.

"I'm not the psychic, Ezio!"

"Why are you so angry?" he asked, taking a step back away from the two fledglings.

"Oh…" The grimace and glare that were on Stevie Rae's face calmed down. "Sorry, I was just worried so darn much about Aphrodite. You see…I've never actually been there with her during one of her visions. It's always Zoey or Neferet…"

"Zoey? Neferet?"

"Those are just… people I knew before I came here…"

Ezio nodded and the two of them waited through the whole vision in silence after that.

* * *

Zoey was irritated and if anyone cared to know why, it was because just when she found everything was going her way and her mind was at ease, there came Mr. Loren Blake making his way into her thoughts with a sexy strut and a dastardly smirk. She could tell he was up to no good. The look on his face said it all, but she couldn't help but feel like there was a connection. Then again, Zoey had a lot of connections to all the wrong people. Neferet for one.

This irritation began during the drama class. One plus of drama class was the fact that somehow, despite having a girlfriend who may or may not have been in grave peril, Erik Night's undivided attention was on Zoey. It felt kind of good. Sure, people might think she was a ho going after the somewhat available boyfriend of a girl who was half dead, but she'd never been one to care much about opinions unless they were her friends' opinions.

Now, the negative of drama class was the mysterious absence of Professor Nolan and her substitute.

Yes, you thought right. Loren Blake. This man seemed to be stalking Zoey and what annoyed her more than the fact that it was rather pedo-ish was how not creeped out she was by it. She even liked it, just a bit. Of course, this caused her to be the target of several glares and oodles of gossip. _That_ was where her suspicion came in.

All the crap that had been flying her way since she entered the Tulsa House of Night seemed to be deliberate. It was like someone was trying to make her life a living hell on purpose and she couldn't help but feel that this was connected to Neferet in some way. If anyone had a reason to ruin Zoey's life, it was the redheaded Head Priestess.

* * *

'_Aphrodite?'_

_Ah, my eyes… I winced and looked around. Oh, shit! I wasn't in Monteriggioni anymore. I was in some open, blank, white space… wearing a hoodie and jeans? Oh, this definitely wasn't reality._

_I caught a glimpse of Zoey Redbird out of the corner of my eye. She was on the ground, wearing an ensemble that showed me more skin than I cared to see and her body was covered in navy blue tattoos, which were moving around… No… I scrutinize the girl only to see that she was writhing in pain and her tattoos were diminishing then reappearing. Zoey was howling in pain. I wanted to help her. I mean, she and I have had our differences, but she was in so much pain and despite what people thought of me, I wasn't all that bad._

_I looked around to find the person who had uttered my name._

_Zoey._

_Her lips were moving slowly. I took a couple of tentative steps towards her and crouched to listen to her faint whispers. I expected to hear my name, or a message from Nyx… or something! The only thing she said as she looked me right in the eyes was 'Desmond… please don't.'_

* * *

_**Yeah, I am teasing you a bit with this "Lucy Goes to Tulsa" storyline.**_

_**I don't know why I need a disclaimer since I obviously don't own Assassin's Creed and House of Night.**_


	16. The Vision

**_MY BABY'S GROWING ASDFGHJFJLK_**

**_Sorry it takes me a month to update... it's laziness...mostly._**

* * *

'_Desmond… please don't.'_

_ I wasn't beside Zoey anymore, I was hovering above her. I watched as a man in a white hoodie with his head covered thrust his dual hidden blades into the girl's throat._

_ 'NO! DON'T!' I wanted to scream, but no voice would come out of my mouth._

_ As Zoey's blood dripped onto the ground like a river of red, the man stood up and the ground beneath them split. An angel rose through. A dark angel with wings as black as night and hair just as dark. I suddenly felt the air around me become empowered. It was like six thousand volts of electricity were whirring all around. It surrounded me and it surrounded him._

_I felt a sinister smirk form on my lips as I strode towards the angel and pulled him into a passionate kiss._

_ Then I saw her again. She walked towards me in her long black gown which rivaled my own white frock. She just kept walking with a solemn expression like she had any right to intrude on the sacred white realm._

_ 'Minerva,' I said with obvious distaste._

_ 'Tsi Sgili..' she spat._

* * *

"NO! DON'T!" Aphrodite screamed, breaking the silence in the bedroom, where Stevie Rae sat, fiddling with her sword. Ezio had left long ago after the prophetess had stabilized. She dropped the blade and rushed to her friend. Aphrodite began to shake violently and Stevie Rae couldn't keep the girl still.

Ezio burst into the room. "What is going on?" He went on to aid Stevie Rae in keeping the girl still. "Did this suddenly happen?" Stevie Rae nodded wordlessly and the two of them held her down until she calmed down.

The conscious pair were panting hard. Ezio had to admit that whatever was happening to Aphrodite was frightening and Stevie Rae wasn't doing a great job of hiding her fear from Ezio.

"Are you alright?"

"Ezio, she can't hear you."

"No, I meant _you_. Stevie Rae, are you alright?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well…" he began, "if you aren't, it's only natural. Maybe you should take a break. _Madre_ may still be in mourning, but her pastries are still the best pastries in Italy. Perhaps you should go down and –"

"Ezio!" Stevie Rae snapped. He was taken aback. "Sorry…" She bowed her head in apology. "I'm fine."

"You haven't eaten since it started."

"I'm not hungry. Plus, I gotta be there when she wakes up."

"Why?"

Stevie Rae didn't get to answer because as soon as the word had come out of the assassin's mouth, Aphrodite's eyes shot open and she began to shriek.

* * *

Zoey was in the stables and she stared at her prized beauty, Persephone, as the horse nibbled absent-mindedly at the hay on the ground of her stall. She had finally plucked up the courage to stay behind after her last period and ask Lenobia for the favor that they needed.

"Zoey," Lenobia's eyes lit up when she saw the fledgling leaning on the wall, admiring her horse. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well… I'm not here for pleasure… I…" she hesitated. "I can trust you, right?"

"Why, of course you can. All of you fledglings, you're like my children. Especially you, Zoey. You're one of my best students." Lenobia smiled and Zoey returned the gesture nervously. "Now, what do you need?"

"After Stevie Rae and… Aphrodite…" she trailed off, but the professor knew exactly what she meant. Lenobia was beginning to get concerned. She recognized the look in her eyes as she had seen it on many young fledglings before her. Zoey was up to something _big._

"Zoey, I must advise you that messing in the affairs of fully fledged vampyres is a dangerous business. Are you sure you want to continue whatever you're planning?" she warned the young girl.

"I –" Zoey hesitated, "I know. That's why… I need your help."

"Oh, Zoey!" Lenobia said with a worried tone. "What are you planning?"

"I need you to borrow something from Neferet," Zoey replied, looking down. The anxiety in her favorite professor's tone was making her feel uncomfortable. She knew it would be hard to convince her teacher and she also knew that the professor she was convincing her to betray was a friend of hers.

"I'm not agreeing yet," Lenobia said after a moment of silence, "but I would like to know what it is that you want me to steal from your High Priestess."

Zoey looked up again at the professor sheepishly. "Aphrodite kept a diary, which was taken from her room along with a bunch of other things… And we _know_ Nef- _Professor_ Neferet has them." Lenobia stood silently and expectantly. "And _you_ know it, too," Zoey added. Closing her eyes, the horse mistress nodded. "You know she's up to something, Professor, and you know it's gonna be bad. So help us out, please."

Lenobia turned her back to Zoey and absent mindedly made her way to the door of the stables, where she kept the saddles and the reins. "Neferet is a powerful vampyre, Zoey Redbird," she simply said, before saddling her horse up and mounting it.

Zoey wished she had gotten more out of her before she rode out of the stable. With a frustrated sigh, Zoey trudged out of the stable and back to the dorms. She just hoped that Lenobia would consider her request.

* * *

As Lucy rode into Tulsa, Oklahoma, she found it ordinary –more so than she had expected when she first set out for it. A part of her had expected death and destruction, which is why she had a pistol holstered in her belt. As she drove past, she saw girls chatting and holding shopping bags. She saw happy couples and noisy children. Could everything she had read about have actually happened in this place?

Midtown Tulsa, where the House of Night was located, was a quaint place. It was full of trees and flowers and spring. Lucy inhaled deeply. This was a nice change from the computers and lab coats she had grown accustomed to after she got mixed up in the Assassin – Templar feud.

The Tulsa House of Night, needless to say, was exactly like the photo, only perhaps a bit more majestic. The campus was amazing. The building looked old and it was enormous, made out of dark bricks. It looked like a huge, fancy private school. Definitely fitting for vampyre finishing school. It had the right amounts of darkness and elegance that Lucy deemed fitting for a vampyre.

She stopped her bike on the side of the road and demounted it. She was removing her helmet when she heard someone call out. "You can't park that here!"

She faced the person calling. She knew he was a vampyre because of the dark tattoos that framed his handsomely sculpted face and his striking eyes. "Oh," she replied, taken aback by his intense gaze (were all vampyres like this?), "and where should I park?"

"Right this way, Ma'am."

* * *

Zoey tossed and turned in her bed. For days, she had been having the same dream. She'd be walking in an empty white place. It was like that white place the Eggo waffle would be wandering around in during those creepy commercials –only she'd be the only one there. There were no trees or props or anything, and unlike the Eggo Waffles commercials, there didn't seem to be a humorous air surrounding her. She felt claustrophobic as she walked around, searching for a way out.

Zoey only wished that the dream stayed like that until the end, because after what seemed like hours of wandering, she'd always find the same person stalking her. He looked like your garden variety stalker –tall, hoodie, baggy jeans, threatening stance –but somehow, he wasn't. Zoey felt strangely connected to her stalker. It was like she knew him from somewhere.

After some time in the dream, the name of this stalker would be whispered, but it didn't matter, because by the time the dream was over, all she could remember was the brightness contrasting the red of her blood on his dagger and how her last breaths of life felt before she awoke –_screaming_ usually.

As Zoey looked around her room, she panted heavily. Her hair was sticking to her forehead and her heart was strangely calm. The girls in the dorm had grown accustomed to Zoey's screaming, which didn't necessarily save her from the complaints the next day, but it meant that nobody bothered to burst into her room to check up on her anymore. She sighed and decided that it would be no good to try and go back to sleep. She checked the time –_half past five in the evening._ Well, it wasn't too early. Maybe she could go out for a refreshing walk until breakfast. Or perhaps she could go to the library. She had been meaning to do so for some time.

* * *

"Fuck!" Desmond cursed as he shot out of bed. The animus must've been playing tricks on his mind because that was the third night in a row that he had had that same nightmare.

"Shuddup…" Rebecca slurred from her own bed. Desmond raised an eyebrow. He knew she wasn't awake, but even in her sleep, she preferred a silent Desmond over a chatty one.

_That kid…_ he thought, _she's familiar… the hair, the tattoos and those eyes._

He hoisted himself out of bed and made his way to Shaun's computer where the Englishman spent many a night analyzing data and formulating plans. This night was no exception.

"Shaun?" Desmond said in a low voice, but the man seemed too engrossed in his work to answer. Desmond stood right behind Shaun and whispered in his ear. "_Shaun!_"

"_What the fuck, Desmond!_" Shaun exclaimed, jumping a few feet into the air before getting to his feet and punching Desmond in the arm. "The _fuck_ was that for, you _fuckhead_."

"You weren't answering," Desmond replied innocently, rubbing his aching arm. "Desperate measures were called for."

"_Fuck you_, Desmond," Shaun mumbled with irritation. "Now what the hell do you want?"

"I need to tell you something."

"Well, it had better be good," a woman's voice called out. Apparently, the ruckus had actually woken Rebecca up. "Because if it isn't, I'm gonna have to bash someone's skull in."

"That drawing that the artist was drawing… can you bring it up?" Desmond asked hurriedly.

Rebecca scoffed. "You do know that the artist's name is Leonardo Da Vinci, right?"

"_No!_" Desmond cried, "Not that one! The one that died."

"Leonardo Da Vinci…"

"The one that was using his blood as ink for his drawings! The one that slit his throat in front of Ezio!"

"Oh!" Rebecca said with realization. "That was one sick fucker."

As the two of them argued, Shaun had already brought up the sketches that Ezio had seen and displayed each one on a separate monitor. "Which one?" he asked.

Desmond immediately pointed to the one portraying the girl he had seen from his dreams. "That one."

"What about it?"

"I've been seeing that girl in my dreams…"

"Didn't take ya for a pedophile, Des…" Rebecca teased, but the boys ignored her and continued scrutinizing the sketch. "You guys know that's Zoey Redbird, right?"

"Zoey who?" Desmond asked.

"The current Tulsa High Priestess," Shaun explained. "She was apparently chosen by their goddess and is blessed or something. That man in Monteriggioni is probably some sort of psychic, because we didn't see the connection between Aphrodite and this sketch until we analyzed it more closely and realized that he was drawing all the major players in Nyx's war, as they liked to call it."

"Wait… they're on _our side_, right?" Desmond inquired.

"Supposedly, yes."

"Then why was I _assassinating_ Zoey Redbird in my dream?"

* * *

"No! No!" Aphrodite sobbed uncontrollably as Stevie Rae and Ezio tried to calm her. She didn't seem to be with them until she suddenly wrapped her arms around the Southern girl and sobbed into her shoulder, soaking the girl with tears and blood. "No, no, no, no… _no_…" she trailed off and held Stevie Rae with as much strength as she could.

"Shh, girl. It'll be alright," Stevie Rae whispered soothingly to her friend who was still uncharacteristically sobbing. "Now, just let it all out."

"I'm… I'm used t-to… _death_ and gore in my –in my visions… but it's been so long s-since… since I've h-had o-one…"

"I know it was scary, hun… I know… Shh…" Stevie Rae brushed the girl's damp hair. The poor thing was shivering like a leaf in the fall. She was terrified. What could she have possibly seen to make her like this?

Ezio stood awkwardly by the bed, watching the exchange. He didn't know whether it would be more appropriate to leave or to stay. When Stevie Rae cast him a meaningful glance, he sighed and sat by the edge of the bed patiently.

"St-stevie Rae…" Aphrodite gulped. "Zoey's gonna die."

* * *

**_Hehehe yeah... _**

**_Was it worth the wait?_**

**_(It wasn't)_**

**_Anyhoo..._**

**_Zoey: She doesn't own anything but the plot -THE END_**


	17. Betrayal

_**SORRY**_

_**You must hate me for taking so long. But I'll try my best to keep updating as frequently as possible!**_

* * *

When Aphrodite finally awoke, she felt like crap. She _really_ felt like crap. She had a killer hangover and something told her that she had been crying on the Okie dork's shoulder for longer than socially acceptable… but that was probably just the alcohol playing tricks on her mind.

"Hey, you…" Stevie Rae greeted softly. Aphrodite could tell by the bags under her eyes that Stevie Rae was tired. Had she waited throughout her whole fit?

Aphrodite took her arms off of Stevie Rae and scooted as far away as possible from her. "Don't worry. You were drunk," Stevie Rae assured her.

"Why?"

"Because of your vision…"

"No," Aphrodite said firmly. "I mean, why did you stay with me?"

"Because you're my friend, Aphrodite," Stevie Rae replied with a kind smile. "It's what friends do."

"Well, then," the Queen Bee smirked, going back to her old self, "we will speak of this to no one."

"But Ezio…" the second fledgling began.

"I have ways of keeping his mouth shut," Aphrodite said with a wink.

Stevie Rae giggled. "Whatever you say, girl. Just keep me out of you hellish and hag-ish ways."

* * *

High Priestess Zoey Redbird sat down in her office, absentmindedly turning her desk chair in circles. She had so much paperwork to do and wondered why nobody mentioned this _ever_.

"_Mo bann ri_," a soft voice called muttered from behind her and her chair stopped twirling. Before she could check it out, a pair of lips was on the top of her head. "How are you today?"

Suddenly, Zoey felt like a fledgling again as she squealed in happiness. "Stark!"

She stumbled out of her seat and jumped gleefully into his arms –literally. He caught her, naturally, and held her bridal style like she didn't weight an ounce. "I missed you," she mumbled, nuzzling her face into his neck.

"I missed you too," he replied with his lips to her ear. She turned her head to face him and he placed a peck on her lips before setting her back down onto her seat. "I just couldn't stay away from my queen for too long so I had to ask Seoras to give me a break." He rolled his eyes. "Of course, he gave me that lecture… _Yoor ace is fine, yoo dinnae have to go back fer pleasure. Yoor trainin's more important,_"he said, mimicking the older vampyre's accent perfectly.

Zoey couldn't help giggling at her guardian. "You missed our gala last week," she told him with a smile. "I had to dance with _Erik_." She feigned horror. Of course, she was just kidding. Over time, the bitterness between her and her ex diminished and they were friends again.

"Oh?" Stark asked, acting jealous. "Is that how it is now, Zoey?" He chuckled and sat on her desk in front of her. "I'll have to make sure he took good care of you, then." He leaned forward and gave her a kiss in the middle of her forehead.

A knock on the door interrupted the tender moment between the couple and a former Raven Mocker, Rephaim, burst in. He put his fist to his heart and bowed to the Head Priestess and her guardian. "Merry meet, Zoey," he greeted. "Sorry to interrupt, but there is a woman here for you. She says that it's extremely important and she won't take no for an answer."

Stark hopped down from Zoey's desk and took a few steps towards Rephaim. "Bring her in," he told the half-immortal.

Rephaim bowed his head and left the room, coming back a mere couple of minutes later with a human woman with blonde hair, wearing a biker jacket and jeans. Stark noted the gun holstered to her side as she entered.

The woman came closer and extended a hand of greeting to Stark. He took it reluctantly and shook it. She smiled kindly. "My name is Lucy Stillman."

* * *

"Okay, are you saying that we are actually_ not_ on Stevie Rae and Aphrodite's side?" Desmond asked Shaun, who was typing furiously into his computer.

"I don't know, but you'd better get back into the animus because we have a lot worse than vampyre fledglings to worry about right now."

"What about those workouts that Lucy was supposed to give me to prevent me from ending up like Subject 16…" Desmond asked.

"No time for that," Rebecca told him, sitting down at her station and patting the seat of the animus for Desmond. "We're behind on schedule. Sorry, Des." She smiled apologetically at him.

Desmond shrugged and took his seat as she prepped him for reentry. She held up the last wire, which was to be entered in his arm. He sighed and shut his eyes, ready for the pain. "It gets better eventually…" Rebecca tried to console him.

"Have you_ tried_ it?" he asked.

"Nope," she replied hesitantly. Desmond groaned then yelped when Rebecca inserted the wire. "Sorry, pal." She watched his breathing become deeper as he synced with Ezio's memory once again.

Once Desmond was completely in sync, she told Shaun, "You know we have to get Lucy out of there."

Shaun nodded. "Yes… but any calls we make are at risk of being intercepted by Vidic. It's why she doesn't have a phone with her. Neither of us can leave Desmond, though. It's hard enough managing just without Lucy." Rebecca looked away from Shaun and he frowned briefly. "Listen, we _will_ get her back safely. Now put on your headset. Desmond needs us." She nodded and did what she was told.

"Alright, Des, we're with you now. How are things going?" she said into her microphone.

"Just peachy," came the sarcastic reply.

"Well, put your big boy panties on and deal with it," Shaun told him.

* * *

Aphrodite warily descended the stairs, holding on to the railing with one hand and clinging desperately to Stevie Rae's arm with the other. Her head was pounding and she was craving chocolate.

"Aphrodite!" The shrill cry caused Aphrodite to grimace unattractively and even with her acute vampyre fledgling senses, she did not see this coming. Out of nowhere, Claudia Auditore's arms were around her and she was sobbing hysterically. "Oh, Aphrodite, are you okay? I heard the screaming and I couldn't bear to see you in so much pain! Oh, you poor thing. I wish I had been there for you, but I've been so busy with my uncle's book…"

"Claudia…" Aphrodite said.

"Please forgive me! What can I do to make it up to you? I'll give you anything: sweets, clothes, Ezio…"

"_Claudia…_"

"Yes?"

"I just want some quiet… and if you can get me any chocolate, you will officially be my new favorite person."

"Of course!" Claudia replied, her voice considerably softer now. Aphrodite smiled weakly at her and Claudia grinned widely before she ran off to find what Aphrodite so passionately desired.

Stevie Rae giggle quietly. "I like after vision Aphrodite. She's nicer than skanky bitch Aphrodite."

"Well, don't get used to it," the prophetess said, airily. "She's going away for a long time as soon as I get me some chocolatey goodness."

"Hm." Stevie Rae giggled. "An honorable discharge…"

"Yeah." Aphrodite smiled. "I like to think of it as something like that."

Eventually the two blonde girls made their way to the kitchen. Stevie Rae sat the prophetess down in a chair and Mario's maid (whose name Stevie Rae could never remember) rushed over to them.

"Hm…" The old woman crouched beside Aphrodite and took her hand. "Why did you get out of bed, darling? You obviously need more rest."

"Nah…" Aphrodite replied. "I just need some chocolate… and maybe some more training. I need to just clear my head…"

The maid looked over to Stevie Rae who was clumsily trying to get a fire started to boil water. She chuckled and took over. Stevie Rae smiled graciously. "Can you make her…I dunno… like tea or something that will get rid of her headache? She had a bit too much to drink yesterday…"

"Of course…" The maid got to work immediately and in less than five minutes, she had a steaming cup of something that smelled herbal. She handed it to Aphrodite who nodded in thanks.

"I guess some painkillers are out of the question…" she mumbled in a tone that was only meant for Stevie Rae. She put the cup to her lips and slowly sipped at the concoction. It burned her tongue when she took the first sip, but she decided that she would just keep drinking. It's rich but strangely good taste soothed her nerves and she relaxed almost immediately.

Stevie Rae watched in awe as Aphrodite's eye lids closed slowly. She seemed to be dozing off. The maid rushed forward and grabbed the glass before it dropped from the fledgling's hands. She placed it on the kitchen table and glanced at Stevie Rae. "Go call Ezio to send her to her room. I've put her to sleep. Judging by the amount of tea she drank, she should be out for a couple of hours. It will be long enough for her headache to die down."

Stevie Rae stared at her incredulously. How could she just drug Aphrodite like that? She decided not to argue with her, though. She was, after all, Mario's trusted maid.

Stevie Rae decided that this would be a good time to go to bed as well. She couldn't tell how long she had been awake, tending to Aphrodite, but she knew that she probably looked like crap and could use some serious beauty rest. She jogged up the stairs of Mario's manor to her own bedroom. Taking off her boots felt like a blessing from the goddess. The weight of her armor dropped, leaving her limbs sore but relieved. The vampyre collapsed on her bed without bothering to tuck herself in, just glad for the winks of rest she could manage.

* * *

"Shannoncompton?"

The young girl turned around abruptly to find her Head Mistress, Neferet, strolling towards her in a long flowing gown that would be more suited for a funeral than casual dress. Her crimson hair was held up in an elegant bun on top of her head. She had a leer plastered onto her face as she held out a small book towards the fledgling. "Your poetry book."

Shannoncompton smiled graciously. "Where'd you find it, Professor?"

"It was with Zoey Redbird. Though I can't imagine why she would need it," Neferet told the girl smoothly. "Don't worry, darling. She _will_ be punished."

"Punished?" the fledgling asked, alarmed by how seriously the Head Mistress was taking this. "It's just my poetry book. If she took it, I forgive her. This is why I didn't report it…"

Neferet cut in. "Sweetheart, if you are done an injustice, you shouldn't stay quiet. You should _always _take action. If it happens once, it can happen again. This, I assure you."

"But, Professor…"

"Shh," the professor silenced the girl. "I know that you're fond of Zoey. I am too! I am her mentor. That is why I must be the one to punish her for this. You understand, of course?"

"Yeah… I guess." The fledgling clutched her poetry book to her chest and looked at her feet. "Thank you again, Professor."

"No need. Justice is my duty."

* * *

Lucy rode her bike behind a sleek black car on the streets of Tulsa. She eventually found that what she wanted wasn't at the official Tulsa House of Night. The black car was leading her to an alternate House of Night according to Stark. Stark was the one driving it. He had insisted that she stay until nightfall, which was a mere couple of hours; then they set out.

The second House of Night was located below a depot. The fact that it was underground gave Lucy the chills, but she trusted that if these vampyres were anything like Stevie Rae and Aphrodite, the probably would mean her no harm. That didn't stop it from being creepy.

She was led by Stark through the halls. From the inside, the depot was greatly renovated. The basement didn't look like a basement, but more like an actual school with classrooms, a decent paintjob, and even marble floors. Her boots echoed noisily against the walls and she began to wonder if those halls had an end, but eventually, they did.

"Lucy Stillman, I've been expecting you," the young woman with long blonde hair and hypnotic blue eyes told her.

"Aphrodite Lafont?"

The woman smiled at Lucy. "Yes." Lucy immediately felt relief. She had found what she was looking.

"I have so much to ask…"

Aphrodite put up a hand to silence the other woman. "Shh…" The prophetess turned towards Stark and nodded. "Lock her up."

* * *

_**DUN DUN DUN  
**_

_**Reviews. They keep me updating faster ;)  
**_


	18. Children of Two Worlds

_**So I'm gonna apologize for two things right now. First of all, I'm an asshole because it took me a whole year to update this. I had some nasty writer's block and I'm not sure if it's completely gone, but whatever. Second of all, I made up a lot of crap about the First Civilization and I need you to forgive me for all the liberties I took to put everything together. I hope you don't mind the inaccuracies.**_

_**Add to that the fact that I haven't even touched the newest HoN book yet... siiiiigh... so much to do...**_

_**With that, enjoy this chapter.**_

* * *

Zoey sat in the library, studying furiously. Lenobia had suggested the book that she was reading. She said that it would give her some insight to what was going on with Stevie Rae. Zoey also told her about seeing Elliot. She was coming to terms with the fact that she may have just been hallucinating, but she asked anyway. Just as she expected, Lenobia didn't know what to tell her.

The book was called something-divination-something. There were many words she didn't know and she tried her hardest to understand it. It did give her some amusement that the book looked like it came out of the world of Harry Potter. And in that moment she swore she was almost Hermione. _Almost._

It talked a lot about people like Aphrodite, who could see the future. Apparently, seeing the future wasn't the only thing they were capable of. The book mentioned their ability to project divination upon others, or rather, the ability to make other people see the future too. However, it was an advanced skill and it had only been seen in very old and gifted vampyres. They were also the only known vampyres with the ability to speak to Nyx at will.

Zoey recalled herself speaking to Nyx as well, but that was against her will and she still kind of thought it was a bit unbelievable. Still, after everything that had happened to her, it couldn't have been just a dream.

Zoey started to read about three legendary original Diviners named Merva, Tinia and Uni. It was said that they were the ones who created the two races, Vampyres and Humans. They used the Pieces of Eden to control them and use them as a work force. The vampyres were allowed to have special abilities and were based more closely on the originals and upon realizing their superiority to humanity, rebelled against them, causing these Diviners, or rather, the First Civilization to create the Children of Two Worlds. These Children were created to destroy the arrogant vampire race and put an end to the rebellion.

Sighing, Zoey realized that a lot of this stuff sounded pretty unbelievable. The book mentioned people being able to speak to Nyx, then it went and outright denied her existence by saying that some "First Civilization" was actually god? And what were the Pieces of Eden and what did they have to do with anything? Was Neferet a part of those Children of Two Worlds? That was impossible, right? Neferet was definitely a vampire. Zoey was sure of that.

She shut the book and put it back in her bag. It was beginning to give her a headache. Maybe she would try to decipher the meaning behind all that mumbo jumbo after a _really_ long nap. As she made her way to the door, someone stood in her way.

"P-Professor Loren!" she stuttered in surprise. What could he possibly want with her?

"Zoey Redbird, I was hoping I'd catch you here," he said smoothly and Zoey tried really hard not to swoon and fall to the ground at his feet. "Could you walk with me please?"

She nodded really quickly. She had no idea what he wanted, but if it meant that she got to look at his face for a little while, she was pretty okay with it.

At first, she and Loren walked in silence. It was beginning to make her nervous, but not for long because he eventually spoke up. "Zoey, I must admit," he said, sounding anxious. "I can't stop thinking about you." Zoey stopped in her tracks. Her voice caught in her throat and she didn't know what to say. This was wrong on so many levels, but it felt so right. He continued to speak, turning around to stand facing her. He reached out and grabbed her hands gently. "I know I shouldn't… I'm a professor, but there's something otherworldly about you…"

"O-Otherworldly…" she stammered, "Loren, I…" She trailed off. She omitted the "Professor" part. It just seemed wrong to call someone really hot who was also coming on to you "Professor"

"You don't need to say anything," he said softly. "Zoey, I think you're wise beyond your years. You're so mature… so beautiful." He let go of one of her hands to caress her face.

He was kissing her. He was kissing her. He was kissing her. Her heart was beating way too fast and she knew her cheeks were blushing fifty shades of –_OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! _she thought anxiously as she felt his lips move gently over hers. It was soft, yet passionate and it made her melt a million times.

It was strange when her thoughts began to slip away. For a moment, she thought it was the rush and the ecstasy, but then she felt her limbs become heavy and her heart slowing down. What was going on?

* * *

Aphrodite was fuming. First, she was drugged and Stevie Rae let it happen. Then she was Abandoned. Yes, you heard right. Abandoned. With a capital A.

As soon as she awoke, Aphrodite put on her armor and headed straight for the training grounds. She knew that if she wanted to know where Stevie Rae was, she needed to know where Ezio was. Stevie Rae wouldn't go off on her own, so if she wasn't with Aphrodite and Claudia, she was definitely with the knucklehead assassin.

To her dismay, none of the men fighting outside of the house were very helpful. A couple of them tried to hit on her only to get a heel to the face. It served them right for being pigs. She did, however, find out one thing. Ezio wasn't in Monteriggioni and neither was Stevie Rae.

_Prophetess!_

A blinding white light covered Aphrodite's vision. However, she knew this wasn't a prophecy. This was Minerva.

_The child is in danger. You must go after her. I will light your way so hurry!_

Aphrodite clutched her head and watched as the beautiful Monteriggioni scenery was revealed again. Stevie Rae was in danger? How? And how was Aphrodite of all people more useful than Ezio? Couldn't he save her?

With a grumble, she dashed through the town and towards a stable. She needed a horse and she knew exactly where to go. Maybe Minerva could give her a few fighting tips while she was at it and some luck. Where Aphrodite was going, she needed as much luck and skill as she could manage.

* * *

Stevie Rae was sneaking into a large cathedral. It was really beautifully built and it was a shame that she was breaking and entering. Of course, she had no choice. She was light on her toes as she leapt from ledge to ledge, finally reaching an open window that she could crawl into.

The window took her to a dimly lit room. It was empty, just as Ezio had told her. Ezio, was on the other side of the cathedral, finding a way to let his men inside as well. She was tasked with making sure the coast was clear on the inside and unlocking any doors she could to help.

She felt a pang of guilt at leaving Aphrodite all alone in Monteriggioni. She had no choice. They were in Italy for a reason and if it wasn't to help Ezio, then what was it? She couldn't sit around and wait for Aphrodite to recover from her violent vision and headaches. She needed to progress and she had no choice but to go after Ezio. She was a talented assassin and she figured it had to do with all the work she did to help out her mama when she was still human. She knew Ezio needed her.

She sprinted nimbly to the door, listening for a moment to make sure that nobody was on the other side. She opened it carefully and stayed in the shadows as she made her way through a hallway. She made her way to the first door and began to pick the lock, making sure that she did it quickly and quietly so as not to tip off the guards of her presence.

It was only at the last lock that she was caught. A man in armor came up to her menacingly. She sucked in a deep breath. Well, this was her time to shine.

She didn't even let the man speak before pulling out her dual swords and running towards him. He wasted no time pulling out his own weapon and blocking her double hit. He staggered back and thrust his mace towards her. She blocked it easily with one of her weapons and thrust her second weapon into her staggered opponent's neck.

She shrugged off the blood that stained her face as two more men approached. Thankfully, they looked less skilled than the man she had just killed. To think, she was killing people now. She never thought she could do that so unflinchingly. She realized that the years had definitely changed her.

The men that approached her this time were unarmed. Stevie Rae tucked away her weapons and watched them warily. They didn't seem like they cared much for the corpse on the floor. They seemed more interested in Stevie Rae's presence. She was about to speak when both men dropped to her knees before her and bowed.

Well, this was new.

"Oh, Red One!" one of the men called out. She had been called Red One before by the other vampyres. What was going on here?

"Get off the floor and tell me what you want!" Stevie Rae snapped, sneering at them.

The men stumbled awkwardly to their feet. The obviously hadn't expected her to react this way to them. The second man spoke softly. "My Lady," he began, "We have been awaiting your arrival for many decades. We are your humble servants. Allow us to…"

The man was interrupted by a familiar voice. "'Humble servants'?" Ezio called out from behind her. Stevie Rae twisted around to watch him come through the door she had just unlocked with his men trailing after him, weapons stained with blood. He looked confused as he stared at the two men who were speaking to Stevie Rae. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I have no idea…" Stevie Rae mumbled, stepping back to stand with her fellow assassins.

"My Lady! You have sided with the ones who seek your destruction?" The first man spoke again. He looked just as confused as everyone else now. Everything was just a mess of confusion.

"Seek my destruction?" she asked and glanced uncertainly at Ezio. "What's that supposed to mean?"

* * *

Shaun looked up from his computer when something hard hit his back. He glanced around to see a shoe at his feet. Rebecca had thrown it at him. He narrowed his eyes and asked. "What was that for, Rebecca?"

"I've been trying to call you for ages, but you weren't responding," she replied sheepishly.

"What do you want?" he asked with irritation.

She pointed to Desmond. "I think we need to get him out of the Animus."

"You do realize we're behind schedule, right?"

She nodded briskly. "But, Shaun, the Bleeding Effect. We can't risk anything happening to Desmond or this will all be useless."

With a sigh, Shaun removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. They stung from all the staring he had been doing. "Yes," he said weakly. "You're right. I could use a break, too." He got up from his chair and began to head towards the resting area.

Before unhooking Desmond from the device, she walked up to Shaun. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked calmly.

He glanced at her for a moment and nodded swiftly. He had been working harder than anyone now that Lucy was gone. Rebecca was definitely worried. She saw him collapse on a couch and she turned back to Desmond.

* * *

Zoey groaned as she regained consciousness. Where was she? She rubbed her eyes and looked around. The aged stone looked like the same material that built the House of Night, but it didn't look as well maintained as the walls of the school. It was broken and crumbling. It almost made her afraid that the walls would fall on top of her and crush her forever.

"Hello?" she said, trying to raise her voice. "Is anyone there?"

She heard the soft chuckling of a woman. Neferet came into view, looking all too elegant for the dirty scenery. Zoey scowled at her. She should have known that this was all Neferet's fault, but why would Neferet take her here? Up until that point, all their fighting had been in secret. They had never confronted each other face to face.

"Zoey," she started, her voice as smooth as silk. "Where did you get this book?" She pulled the ancient book that once belonged to Lenobia from behind her back.

"I found it in the library," the fledgling said fiercely.

"Don't lie to me, Zoey," the headmistress replied with a sinister look on her face.

Zoey winced in pain. Suddenly, she felt like tiny blades were whipping her skin and she felt the sticky sensation of blood oozing out of the cuts. "Stop it!" she screamed. Her eyes watered and through her blurred vision, she saw the silhouette of dark tentacles emerging from Neferet's shapely form.

The tentacles that were whipping Zoey retreated and the girl dropped to her knees weakly to Neferet's amusement. "Now, child. Tell me again. Where. Did. You. Get. This. Book?"

* * *

**_No Lucy in this chapter, but hopefully you'll find out what happened to her this year at least. (haha bad joke, I'm so sorry) Anyway, at least you've got Zoey in pain. Now isn't that music to your ears? :D (I'm a horrible human being)_**


End file.
